Michael Bowen, chair of Akerman’s State and Local Tax Practice, will be a speaker at the Council on State Taxation's 50th Annual meeting. The panel titled, "Marketplace Providers –  The New Matchmakers," will provide an overview of the tax issues that arise when a provider of services, apps or technology facilitates transactions. The discussion will help define whether the provider is a "buyer." "seller," or "agent/service provider" for purposes of sales and use tax (or income tax) purposes and the impact of such involvement on the tax determinations. The session will cover issues commonly encountered in any sharing industry, whether rideshare, home share, vehicle subscriptions or any other transaction based sector where there is matching buyers and sellers.

The Council On State Taxation (COST) is the premier state tax organization representing taxpayers.  COST is a nonprofit trade association consisting of nearly 600 multistate corporations engaged in interstate and international business. COST's objective is to preserve and promote equitable and nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities.