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Taxpayers must make their second payment for Oregon's new Corporate Activity Tax (CAT) by July 31, 2020.

Taxpayers that have "substantial nexus" with Oregon must pay taxes on their Oregon commercial activity. Commercial activity generally means a person's or unitary group's total amount realized from transactions and activity in the regular course of its trade or business, without deducting expenses incurred.¹ Commercial activity is sourced to Oregon under market-based sourcing rules. Oregon commercial activity generally includes the:

• Sale, rental, lease or license of real property located in Oregon
• Rental, lease or license of tangible personal property located in Oregon
• Sale of tangible personal property delivered to a purchaser in Oregon
• Sale of a service delivered to a purchaser in Oregon
• Sale, rental, lease or license of intangible property used in Oregon²

Substantial nexus includes:

• "Bright-line" presence, which consists of having one or more of the following in Oregon during the calendar year:
• $50,000 in property
• $50,000 in payroll
• $750,000 in commercial activity or
• At least 25% of the person's total property, total payroll or total commercial activity
• Other nexus with the state, to the extent that the person can be required to remit the CAT under the US Constitution

By July 31, 2020, those with substantial nexus with Oregon and an annual CAT liability exceeding $10,000 must pay 25% of their CAT liability for the 2020 calendar year.³ While Oregon has extended some of its tax filing and payment deadlines in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, it has not extended the due dates for estimated quarterly payments of its CAT for 2020.

Taxpayers may make Oregon CAT estimated payments through the website of the Oregon Department of Revenue (Department).

Taxpayers may also mail a check or money order to the Department by downloading, printing and filling out the Department's Oregon Corporate Activity Tax Payment Voucher and Instructions (Form OR-CAT-V) and following the instructions included with the form.

Additionally, taxpayers with Oregon commercial activity exceeding $750,000 must register with the Department within 30 days of exceeding that threshold.⁴ Persons obligated to register for the Oregon CAT can do so on the Department's website.

Implications

For this calendar year, taxpayers that fail to make timely estimated tax payments or underestimate their estimated tax payments by more than 20% will be subject to a penalty. If the failure or underpayment exceeds one month, the penalty is 20% of the required payment.⁵ If, however, the taxpayer demonstrates good faith by attempting to accurately estimate and pay the quarterly CAT installments, then no penalty will be assessed against the taxpayer for this tax year.⁶

Taxpayers that fail to timely register will be subject to a penalty of $100 per month, capped at $1,000 in a calendar year.⁷

Further information

Click here for additional information on the CAT from the Department, including its responses to frequently asked questions and draft/temporary/adopted rules.

EY will continue to monitor developments concerning the Oregon CAT and issue additional Tax Alerts as warranted.

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ENDNOTES

¹ ORS 317A.100(1) (defining commercial activity).

² ORS 317A.128 (sourcing rules for commercial activity).

³ OAR 150-317-1300 (new minimum requirement) ($5,000 for subsequent years).

⁴ ORS 317A.131 (registration).

⁵ ORS 317A.161(2), 314.400(3), Or. Temp. Admin. R. 150-317-1310 (penalties).

⁶ OAR 150-317-1500 (good faith effort).

⁷ ORS 317A.131(3) (registration rules).