Council on State Taxation gives high marks to Arkansas on annual score card

This is a strong showing for the state and a substantial improvement from previous rankings thanks to legislative approval of Act 896 in 2015. Arkansas adopted sev­eral reforms, perhaps most significantly by eliminating “pay to play” in circuit court by providing taxpayers the option of filing suit for relief from a final assessment or determination without paying the proposed tax, penalties, or interest.

Additional improvements included making the statute of limitations for assessments and refunds more consistent, providing additional time for filing state corporate returns, and improving transpar­ency by requiring publication of redacted legal opin­ions and administrative decisions.