After several years of interested party meetings and multiple rounds of revisions, the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) has officially adopted amendments to Title 18, Section 25136-2 of the California Code of Regulations. These changes update the rules governing market-based sourcing for sales of items other than tangible personal property and take effect for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026.
The purpose of the finalized amendments is to enhance compliance and simplify the rules for assigning sales and establishing industry-specific guidelines. These rules will be used to determine the number of sales to be included in the sales factor numerator for transactions other than those involving tangible personal property. The key changes introduced by the revised regulation are summarized below.
The revised regulation implements a new set of presumptions for determining the location of the benefit of the service, and specifically discusses services related to:
The taxpayer or FTB may rebut these presumptions by demonstrating that the benefit of the service is received at a different location based on the taxpayer’s contracts, books or records kept in their normal course of business. If contracts and standard business records do not sufficiently establish the benefit location, other sources of information may be used to substantiate where the benefit is received. If the location still cannot be determined, a reasonable approximation must be made. However, if the benefit location still cannot be determined using these methods, the customer’s billing address will serve as the default location for identifying where the benefit of the service is received.
The revised regulation also addresses services provided under U.S. government contracts where the contract cannot be disclosed and no information about the service is publicly available. If the location where the benefit of the service is received cannot be determined using the methods described above, the benefit of the service is deemed received by the 50 states based on relative population.
>> Our Take: This amendment reflects a reduced reliance on the billing address as a basis for determining sourcing, while offering taxpayers greater flexibility to more accurately identify the true market for their services.
The revised regulation provides an updated framework for asset management services, administration services, distribution services, management services, fund(s) and beneficial owner(s).
There are now specific criteria for determining the location where the benefits of asset management services are received. Generally, this is based on the domicile of the investors in the assets, unless the investor holds title to the assets on behalf of a beneficial owner. In such cases, the benefit of the asset management services is received at the domicile of the beneficial owner. The domicile of an investor is presumed to be the billing address reflected in the taxpayer’s record, while the domicile of a beneficial owner is presumed to be the billing address recorded by the entity managing the assets. This approach effectively requires a “look-through” method to identify the true location of the investors.
Receipts from asset management services are assigned to California in proportion to the average value of interest in the assets held by the assets’ investors or beneficial owners domiciled in California. If the taxpayer does not know the average value, then receipts are assigned based on a reasonable estimation.
>> Our Take: This amendment expands the definition of asset management services and brings these providers under the same rules that previously applied only to mutual fund service providers under Regulation Section 25137-14.
The revised regulation provides an expanded definition of professional services to now include:
The regulation states if a taxpayer provides services to more than 250 customers within any single professional service category listed above, gross receipts from those services must be assigned to the customers’ billing address. However, if a single customer’s receipts account for greater than 5% of the service organization’s total receipts, that customer’s receipts are excluded from this safe harbor rule and instead are sourced applying general market-based sourcing rules.
>> Our Take: The revised regulation applies to large, national service providers and recognizes the practical challenges of identifying where the benefit of a service is received for each individual customer. This sourcing offers convenience to professional service organizations, as they can easily obtain billing address information and then quickly estimate where the benefit of their service is received.
The revised regulation provides guidance for sourcing sales that involves the provision of a service, intangible property and tangible property. If the value of each component of the sale is readily ascertainable, each portion must be separately assigned. However, if the individual values cannot be clearly determined, the receipts should be sourced based on the principal purpose of the contract.
The revised regulation implements specific rules for applying a method of reasonable approximation to determine the location where the benefit of services is received, where intangible property is used, or where the customer is located for sales of marketable securities. The FTB permits taxpayers to use their own reasonable approximation method, provided it is justifiable. If the FTB determines the taxpayer’s method is not reasonable, it will apply its own reasonable approximation to establish a more appropriate location for sourcing purposes.
The method of reasonable approximation must reasonably relate to the income of the taxpayer. Once a taxpayer adopts a reasonable approximation method, it must be applied consistently in future taxable years. If the method changes, the taxpayer is required to notify the FTB and provide a brief description of the revised approach.
Many businesses invest significant time to comply with each state’s varying rules on the sourcing of service revenue. State rules requiring taxpayers to determine where the benefits of their services are received often do not consider the realities of most businesses’ records and the significant training and tracking efforts that may be required. Even for well-intentioned businesses, revenue sourcing may still be flawed considering each state’s varying laws. Businesses with receipts from sales of items other than tangible personal property should carefully review the updated California sourcing provisions to assess how these changes may impact their California tax liability beginning in 2026 and beyond.
Contact Hannah Prengler, Jayne Callahan or a member of your service team to discuss this topic further.
In this blog Cohen & Co is not rendering legal, accounting, investment, tax or other professional advice. Rather, the information contained in this blog is for general informational purposes only. Any decisions or actions based on the general information contained in this blog should be made or taken only after a detailed review of the specific facts, circumstances and current law with your professional advisers.