State Law Restrictions on Direct Sales to Consumers Are Ripe for Challenge
In the 2005 case Granholm v. Held, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Michigan and New York laws that effectively prevented out-of-state wineries from shipping directly to in-state consumers but that allowed in-state wineries to conclude in-state direct sales. The Court held that these laws violated the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause. Since then, lower federal courts around the country have had the tools to strike down similar state laws that facially discriminate against out-of-state producers without a permissible justification. For example, federal courts have struck down or enjoined facially discriminatory statutes—or selected provisions of such laws—in states such as Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.
But these rulings do not apply consistently across the country. For example, although the Sixth Circuit held unconstitutional Kentucky’s law requiring direct sales to be made only pursuant to in-person purchases, Indiana’s law requiring similar in-person sales remains on the books. And a number of other states retain laws restricting direct sales that appear legally dubious in the wake of Granholm and its progeny. But Granholm also has spurred Congressional attempts to restrict its reach. In 2010 and 2011, legislators introduced the Community Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (“CARE”) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. In its latest iteration the bill aims to eliminate the federal statutory requirement that imported alcohol be subject to state laws “to the same extent and in the same manner” as alcohol produced in-state. The original version of the CARE Act did not survive the life of the last Congress, and it is unclear if the current version will find any more support in the present one. But notwithstanding this threat to direct shipping by out-of-state producers, overly restrictive state laws favoring in-state direct sellers remain ripe targets for litigation seeking to enforce Granholm and its reading of the Commerce Clause.
UC Davis Holds Wine Law Conference
I recently attended the UC Davis Wine Law Conference, held at the UC Davis School of Law. The conference's main focus was intellectual property and European imports/exports, as well as the affects of recent changes in the European Union rules regarding wine IP, with a specific focus on Italy. Panelists also discussed the affects of international beverage counterfeiting and how multinational parties can and should reach consensus on trade rules. The discussions were frank, sometimes even contentious, but overall very productive. The conference drew numerous high-level attendees, including members of the legal community, industry stakeholders, and regulatory agencies from both the United States and abroad.
IRS Publishes New Audit Technique Guide for Wineries and Vineyards
The IRS recently issued a new Audit Technique Guide (“ATG”, available here) applicable to winery and vineyard operations. As with previous IRS guidance, the new ATG is meant to be used by IRS examiners; however the IRS anticipates the industry will rely upon the publication as a guide. It should be noted, the ATG should not be cited as the IRS's technical position.
Many of the issues in the new publication have been previously covered in prior IRS guidance. In this ATG, however, the IRS appears to streamline many of its positions. For example, the UNICAP rules, to which wineries are subject, have evolved since the 1995 guidance. While previously cited as only temporary, these rules have since been finalized, and additional UNICAP rules have been added.
While the streamlining in the new guidance is mainly procedural, the ATG does reflect some significant developments. One such change is the IRS's acknowledgement that vineyards may qualify for Section 179 deductions. Currently, Section 179 allows a $500,000 deduction to taxpayers who place over $2 million of property in service by the end of 2011. For 2012, Section 179 reduces those numbers to a $125,000 deduction for placing over $500,000 of property in service during that year. The deduction will be further reduced to $25,000 for tax years beyond 2012. The ATG states that, based on changes to the definition of property subject to the Section 179 deduction, "[c]ertain practitioners are taking the position that this new definition includes vineyards and are taking [the Section] 179 deduction."
In addition, the ATG addresses and essentially blesses an income deferral method rejected in a 1996 case. The ATG describes the case as involving an accounting structure in which a farmer, using cash method accounting and operating a vineyard as a division of a winery, would sell grapes to the winery without receiving payment until the wine was sold, up to two or three years later. As a result of using cash method accounting, the vineyard would defer income until such time as the wine was sold. The ATG states that in 1997, the IRS published treasury regulations allowing this accounting practice.
To learn more about the issues discussed above as well as other developments addressed in the ATG, please contact:
Carl Lewis at cslewis@stoel.com
Nikki Dobay at nedobay@stoel.com
Jake Storms at jwstorms@stoel.com
This post was created in conjunction with Nikki Dobay.
