Four justices on the Washington Supreme Court at oral arguments Tuesday appeared likely to side with the state revenue department’s interpretation of the business and occupation tax investment income deduction.
The justices are reviewing a state appeals court ruling that 16 investment funds led by Antio LLC aren’t entitled to take the deduction for “amounts derived from investments.” The appeals court cited the state high court’s two-page 1986 ruling in O’Leary v. Department of Revenue for the proposition that deductible “investments” are incidental to the taxpayer’s business, not the reason the company is in business.
If the appeals court’s narrow …
