Bank Gets Lower Idaho Tax Rate for Year Straddling Law Change

Bank holding company WaFd Inc. is entitled to a refund of Idaho corporate income tax because a newly adopted lower tax rate applied to the entire fiscal year that straddled the law change, the state high court ruled Thursday.

The amendment reducing the corporate tax rate to 6.5% from 6.93% took effect Jan. 1, 2021 for all tax years back to 2001. The only possible interpretation of the statute’s language is that the 6.5% rate applied to WaFd’s entire 2021 fiscal year, even though it began in October 2020, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled.

“The 2001 date establishes the ...