The PA Supreme Court held the fixed dollar net operating loss deduction (flat dollar
cap) unconstitutional in the Nextel decision issued on Oct. 18, 2017. The Supreme Court, however, did not address whether this decision should be applied retroactively. The Commonwealth Court recently heard arguments regarding this issue in the RB Alden and General Motor cases. The law, therefore, in this area is not settled. As the Board of Appeals can only issue decisions "in accordance with the law," the Board has been providing taxpayers with two options.
The first option is to hold their case in pending litigation behind the RB Alden case and the second option is to issue a failure to act letter. The failure to act letter provides the taxpayer with the opportunity to appeal the issue to the Board of
Finance and Revenue which can issue a decision in accordance with the law and equity. The decisions issued by the Board of Finance and Revenue regarding this issue are available on their web site.