This week, I attended the DOR Advisory Council meeting. We meet quarterly to discuss a little inside baseball with the Commissioner and his senior team, and to offer them advice as they move forward. 
 
The top headline is the ongoing brain drain at the department, as General Counsel Kevin Brown, Senior Deputy Commissioner Bill Graham and Taxpayer Advocate Dana Ackerman all recently announced their retirements. We may not always see eye-to-eye, but they know their stuff and are incredibly responsive to us. They assured us that they have a very good succession plan in place, and we will share updates with you here and in our weekly Legislative Brief.  

Other takeaways from the meeting: 

1. The emergency regulation on remote workers expired on September 13, 2021, which is 90 days after the termination of the state of emergency in Massachusetts. This means employers can no longer treat workers who are telecommuting from other states as Massachusetts residents. Many businesses are unaware of that change and will have to do a bit of scrambling to comply. 

2. There were a few comments on the implementation of advance payments of the sales tax. The main objections were the new reporting requirements and the inability to do a credit carryforward. They seem open to adjusting their approach on both, and we will keep you informed on any developments.  

Finally, FY21 revenues were finalized, and they are over $34 billion or 17% above benchmark. Yowza! 

Have a great weekend!