196.03 APPLICABILITY; TAXABLE SITUS; APPORTIONMENT.
This section applies to any taxpayer that is engaged in a business or profession in the City of Findlay and that has made the election under section 196.01 of this Chapter.
(A) Except as otherwise provided in division (B) of this section, net profit from a business or profession conducted both within and without the boundaries of the City of Findlay shall be considered as having a taxable situs in the City of Findlay for purposes of municipal income taxation in the same proportion as the average ratio of the following:
(1) The average original cost of the real property and tangible personal property owned or used by the taxpayer in the business or profession in the City of Findlay during the taxable period to the average original cost of all of the real and tangible personal property owned or used by the taxpayer in the business or profession during the same period, wherever situated.
As used in the preceding paragraph, tangible personal or real property shall include property rented or leased by the taxpayer and the value of such property shall be determined by multiplying the annual rental thereon by eight;
(2) Wages, salaries, and other compensation paid during the taxable period to individuals employed in the business or profession for services performed in the City of Findlay to wages, salaries, and other compensation paid during the same period to individuals employed in the business or profession, wherever the individual's services are performed, excluding compensation from which taxes are not required to be withheld under section 718.01 of the Ohio Revised Code;
(3) Total gross receipts of the business or profession from sales and rentals made and services performed during the taxable period in the City of Findlay to total gross receipts of the business or profession during the same period from sales, rentals, and services, wherever made or performed.
(B) (1) If the apportionment factors described in division (A) of this section do not fairly represent the extent of a taxpayer's business activity in the City of Findlay, the taxpayer may request, or the tax commissioner may require, that the taxpayer use, with respect to all or any portion of the income of the taxpayer, an alternative apportionment method involving one or more of the following:
(a) Separate accounting;
(b) The exclusion of one or more of the factors;
(c) The inclusion of one or more additional factors that would provide for a more fair apportionment of the income of the taxpayer to the municipal corporation;
(d) A modification of one or more of the factors.
(2) A taxpayer request to use an alternative apportionment method shall be in writing and shall accompany a tax return, timely filed appeal of an assessment, or timely filed amended tax return. The taxpayer may use the requested alternative method unless the tax commissioner denies the request in an assessment issued within the period prescribed by division (A) of section 196.11 of this Chapter.
(3) The tax commissioner may require a taxpayer to use an alternative apportionment method as described in division (B)(1) of this section only by issuing an assessment to the taxpayer within the period prescribed by division (A) of section 196.11 of this Chapter.
(C) As used in division (A)(2) of this section, "wages, salaries, and other compensation" includes only wages, salaries, or other compensation paid to an employee for services performed at any of the following locations:
(1) A location that is owned, controlled, or used by, rented to, or under the possession of one of the following:
(a) The employer;
(b) A vendor, customer, client, or patient of the employer, or a related member of such a vendor, customer, client, or patient;
(c) A vendor, customer, client, or patient of a person described in division (C)(1)(b) of this section, or a related member of such a vendor, customer, client, or patient.
(2) Any location at which a trial, appeal, hearing, investigation, inquiry, review, courtmartial, or similar administrative, judicial, or legislative matter or proceeding is being conducted, provided that the compensation is paid for services performed for, or on behalf of, the employer or that the employee's presence at the location directly or indirectly benefits the employer;
(3) Any other location, if the tax commissioner determines that the employer directed the employee to perform the services at the other location in lieu of a location described in division (C)(1) or (2) of this section solely in order to avoid or reduce the employer's municipal income tax liability. If the tax commissioner makes such a determination, the employer may dispute the determination by establishing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the tax commissioner's determination was unreasonable.
(D) For the purposes of division (A)(3) of this section, receipts from sales and rentals made and services performed shall be sitused to the City of Findlay as follows:
(1) Gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property shall be sitused to the City of Findlay only if, regardless of where title passes, the property meets either of the following criteria:
(a) The property is shipped to or delivered within the City of Findlay from a stock of goods located within the City of Findlay.
(b) The property is delivered within the City of Findlay from a location outside the City of Findlay, provided the taxpayer is regularly engaged through its own employees in the solicitation or promotion of sales within the City of Findlay and the sales result from such solicitation or promotion.
(2) Gross receipts from the sale of services shall be sitused to the City of Findlay to the extent that such services are performed in the City of Findlay.
(3) To the extent included in income, gross receipts from the sale of real property located in the City of Findlay shall be sitused to the City of Findlay.
(4) To the extent included in income, gross receipts from rents and royalties from real property located in the City of Findlay shall be sitused to the City of Findlay.
(5) Gross receipts from rents and royalties from tangible personal property shall be sitused to the City of Findlay based upon the extent to which the tangible personal property is used in the City of Findlay.
(E) Commissions received by a real estate agent or broker relating to the sale, purchase, or lease of real estate shall be sitused to the City of Findlay in which the real estate is located. Net profit reported by the real estate agent or broker shall be allocated to the City of Findlay based upon the ratio of the commissions the agent or broker received from the sale, purchase, or lease of real estate located in the City of Findlay to the commissions received from the sale, purchase, or lease of real estate everywhere in the taxable year.
(F) If, in computing a taxpayer's adjusted federal taxable income, the taxpayer deducted any amount with respect to a stock option granted to an employee, and if the employee is not required to include in the employee's income any such amount or a portion thereof because it is exempted from taxation under Chapter 194, the taxpayer shall add the amount that is exempt from taxation to the taxpayer's net profit that was apportioned to the City of Findlay. In no case shall a taxpayer be required to add to its net profit that was apportioned to the City of Findlay any amount other than the amount upon which the employee would be required to pay tax were the amount related to the stock option not exempted from taxation.
This division applies solely for the purpose of making an adjustment to the amount of a taxpayer's net profit that was apportioned to the City of Findlay under this section.
(G) When calculating the ratios described in division (A) of this section for the purposes of that division or division (B) of this section, the owner of a disregarded entity shall include in the owner's ratios the property, payroll, and gross receipts of such disregarded entity.
(Ord. 2018-014. Passed 2-20-18.)