Commissioner of Revenue v. J.C. Penney Co.

The Commissioner of Revenue (commissioner) appeals, pursuant to G. L. c. 58A, § 13, from a decision of the Appellate Tax Board (board) ordering an abatement of a use tax assessed on catalogs that J.C. Penney Company (taxpayer) mailed from out-of-State locations to Massachusetts residents between the years 1991 and 1993.1 See G. L. c. 641, § 2. The commissioner argues that the board erred in concluding that the taxpayer’s distribution of these catalogs did not constitute a taxable “use” of property, as that term is statutorily defined. G. L. c. 641, § 1. We transferred the case here on our own…