As used in this section, "qualified research" means laboratory research, experimental research, and other similar types of research; research in developing or improving a product; or research in developing or improving the means of producing a product. It does not include market research, consumer surveys, efficiency surveys, management studies, ordinary testing or inspection of materials or products for quality control, historical research, or literary research. "Product" as used in this paragraph does not include services or intangible property.

The annual report determines the value of the issued and outstanding shares of stock of the taxpayer, which under division (A) or divisions (B) and (C) of this section is the base or measure of the franchise tax liability. Such determination shall be made as of the date shown by the report to have been the beginning of the corporation's annual accounting period that includes the first day of January of the tax year. For the purposes of this chapter, the value of the issued and outstanding shares of stock of any corporation that is a financial institution shall be deemed to be the value as calculated in accordance with division (A) of this section. For the purposes of this chapter, the value of the issued and outstanding shares of stock of any corporation that is not a financial institution shall be deemed to be the values as calculated in accordance with divisions (B) and (C) of this section. Except as otherwise required by this section or section 5733.056 of the Revised Code, the value of a taxpayer's issued and outstanding shares of stock under division (A) or (C) of this section does not include any amount that is treated as a liability under generally accepted accounting principles.

(A) The total value, as shown by the books of the financial institution, of its capital, surplus, whether earned or unearned, undivided profits, and reserves shall be determined as prescribed by section 5733.056 of the Revised Code for tax years 1998 and thereafter.

(B) The sum of the corporation's net income during the corporation's taxable year, allocated or apportioned to this state as prescribed in divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section, and subject to sections 5733.052, 5733.053, 5733.057, 5733.058, 5733.059, and 5733.0510 of the Revised Code:

(1) The net nonbusiness income allocated or apportioned to this state as provided by section 5733.051 of the Revised Code.

(2) The amount of Ohio apportioned net business income, which shall be calculated by multiplying the corporation's net business income by a fraction. The numerator of the fraction is the sum of the following products: the property factor multiplied by twenty, the payroll factor multiplied by twenty, and the sales factor multiplied by sixty. The denominator of the fraction is one hundred, provided that the denominator shall be reduced by twenty if the property factor has a denominator of zero, by twenty if the payroll factor has a denominator of zero, and by sixty if the sales factor has a denominator of zero.

The property, payroll, and sales factors shall be determined as follows, but the numerator and the denominator of the factors shall not include the portion of any property, payroll, and sales otherwise includible in the factors to the extent that the portion relates to, or is used in connection with, the production of nonbusiness income allocated under section 5733.051 of the Revised Code:

(a) The property factor is a fraction computed as follows:

The numerator of the fraction is the average value of the corporation's real and tangible personal property owned or rented, and used in the trade or business in this state during the taxable year, and the denominator of the fraction is the average value of all the corporation's real and tangible personal property owned or rented, and used in the trade or business everywhere during such year. Real and tangible personal property used in the trade or business includes, but is not limited to, real and tangible personal property that the corporation rents, subrents, leases, or subleases to others if the income or loss from such rentals, subrentals, leases, or subleases is business income. There shall be excluded from the numerator and denominator of the fraction the original cost of all of the following property within Ohio: property with respect to which a "pollution control facility" certificate has been issued pursuant to section 5709.21 of the Revised Code; property with respect to which an "industrial water pollution control certificate" has been issued pursuant to that section or former section 6111.31 of the Revised Code; and property used exclusively during the taxable year for qualified research.

(i) Property owned by the corporation is valued at its original cost. Property rented by the corporation is valued at eight times the net annual rental rate. "Net annual rental rate" means the annual rental rate paid by the corporation less any annual rental rate received by the corporation from subrentals.

(ii) The average value of property shall be determined by averaging the values at the beginning and the end of the taxable year, but the tax commissioner may require the averaging of monthly values during the taxable year, if reasonably required to reflect properly the average value of the corporation's property.

(b) The payroll factor is a fraction computed as follows:

The numerator of the fraction is the total amount paid in this state during the taxable year by the corporation for compensation, and the denominator of the fraction is the total compensation paid everywhere by the corporation during such year. There shall be excluded from the numerator and the denominator of the payroll factor the total compensation paid in this state to employees who are primarily engaged in qualified research.

(i) Compensation means any form of remuneration paid to an employee for personal services.

(ii) Compensation is paid in this state if: (I) the recipient's service is performed entirely within this state, (II) the recipient's service is performed both within and without this state, but the service performed without this state is incidental to the recipient's service within this state, (III) some of the service is performed within this state and either the base of operations, or if there is no base of operations, the place from which the service is directed or controlled is within this state, or the base of operations or the place from which the service is directed or controlled is not in any state in which some part of the service is performed, but the recipient's residence is in this state.

(iii) Compensation is paid in this state to any employee of a common or contract motor carrier corporation, who performs the employee's regularly assigned duties on a motor vehicle in more than one state, in the same ratio by which the mileage traveled by such employee within the state bears to the total mileage traveled by such employee everywhere during the taxable year.

(c) The sales factor is a fraction computed as follows:

Except as provided in this section, the numerator of the fraction is the total sales in this state by the corporation during the taxable year or part thereof, and the denominator of the fraction is the total sales by the corporation everywhere during such year or part thereof. In computing the numerator and denominator of the fraction, the following shall be eliminated from the fraction: receipts and any related gains or losses from the sale or other disposal of excluded assets; dividends or distributions; and interest or other similar amounts received for the use of, or for the forbearance of the use of, money. Also, in computing the numerator and denominator of the sales factor, in the case of a corporation owning at least eighty per cent of the issued and outstanding common stock of one or more insurance companies or public utilities, except an electric company and a combined company, and, for tax years 2005 and thereafter, a telephone company, or owning at least twenty-five per cent of the issued and outstanding common stock of one or more financial institutions, receipts received by the corporation from such utilities, insurance companies, and financial institutions shall be eliminated. As used in this division, "excluded assets" means property that is either: intangible property, other than trademarks, trade names, patents, copyrights, and similar intellectual property; or tangible personal property or real property where that property is a capital asset or an asset described in section 1231 of the Internal Revenue Code, without regard to the holding period specified therein.

(i) For the purpose of this section and section 5733.03 of the Revised Code, receipts not eliminated or excluded from the fraction shall be sitused as follows:

Receipts from rents and royalties from real property located in this state shall be sitused to this state.

Receipts from rents and royalties of tangible personal property, to the extent the tangible personal property is used in this state, shall be sitused to this state.

Receipts from the sale of electricity and of electric transmission and distribution services shall be sitused to this state in the manner provided under section 5733.059 of the Revised Code.

Receipts from the sale of real property located in this state shall be sitused to this state.

Receipts from the sale of tangible personal property shall be sitused to this state if such property is received in this state by the purchaser. In the case of delivery of tangible personal property by common carrier or by other means of transportation, the place at which such property is ultimately received after all transportation has been completed shall be considered as the place at which such property is received by the purchaser. Direct delivery in this state, other than for purposes of transportation, to a person or firm designated by a purchaser constitutes delivery to the purchaser in this state, and direct delivery outside this state to a person or firm designated by a purchaser does not constitute delivery to the purchaser in this state, regardless of where title passes or other conditions of sale.

(ii) Receipts from all other sales not eliminated or excluded from the fraction shall be sitused to this state as follows:

Receipts from the sale, exchange, disposition, or other grant of the right to use trademarks, trade names, patents, copyrights, and similar intellectual property shall be sitused to this state to the extent that the receipts are based on the amount of use of that property in this state. If the receipts are not based on the amount of use of that property, but rather on the right to use the property and the payor has the right to use the property in this state, then the receipts from the sale, exchange, disposition, or other grant of the right to use such property shall be sitused to this state to the extent the receipts are based on the right to use the property in this state.

Receipts from the sale of services, and receipts from any other sales not eliminated or excluded from the sales factor and not otherwise sitused under division (B)(2)(c) of this section, shall be sitused to this state in the proportion to the purchaser's benefit, with respect to the sale, in this state to the purchaser's benefit, with respect to the sale, everywhere. The physical location where the purchaser ultimately uses or receives the benefit of what was purchased shall be paramount in determining the proportion of the benefit in this state to the benefit everywhere.

(iii) Income from receipts eliminated or excluded from the sales factor under division (B)(2)(c) of this section shall not be presumed to be nonbusiness income.

(d) If the allocation and apportionment provisions of division (B) of this section do not fairly represent the extent of the taxpayer's business activity in this state, the taxpayer may request, which request must be in writing and must accompany the report, a timely filed petition for reassessment, or a timely filed amended report, or the tax commissioner may require, in respect to all or any part of the taxpayer's allocated or apportioned base, if reasonable, any one or more of the following:

(i) Separate accounting;

(ii) The exclusion of any one or more of the factors;

(iii) The inclusion of one or more additional factors that will fairly represent the taxpayer's allocated or apportioned base in this state.

An alternative method will be effective only with approval by the tax commissioner.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to extend any statute of limitations set forth in this chapter.

(e) The tax commissioner may adopt rules providing for alternative allocation and apportionment methods, and alternative calculations of a corporation's base, that apply to corporations engaged in telecommunications.

(C)

(1) The total value, as shown on the books of each corporation that is not a qualified holding company, of the net book value of the corporation's assets less the net carrying value of its liabilities, and excluding from the corporation's assets land devoted exclusively to agricultural use as of the first Monday of June in the corporation's taxable year as determined by the county auditor of the county in which the land is located pursuant to section 5713.31 of the Revised Code, and making any adjustment required by division (D) of this section. For the purposes of determining that total value, any reserves shown on the corporation's books shall be considered liabilities or contra assets, as the case may be, except for any reserves that are deemed appropriations of retained earnings under generally accepted accounting principles.

(2) The base upon which the tax is levied under division (C) of section 5733.06 of the Revised Code shall be computed by multiplying the amount determined under division (C)(1) of this section by the fraction determined under divisions (B)(2)(a) to (c) of this section and, if applicable, divisions (B)(2)(d)(ii) and (iii) of this section, and without regard to section 5733.052 of the Revised Code, but substituting "net worth" for "net income" wherever "net income" appears in division (B)(2)(c) in this section. For purposes of division (C)(2) of this section, the numerator and denominator of each of the fractions shall include the portion of any real and tangible personal property, payroll, and sales, respectively, relating to, or used in connection with the production of, net nonbusiness income allocated under section 5733.051 of the Revised Code. Nothing in this division shall allow any amount to be included in the numerator or denominator more than once.

(D)

(1) If, on the last day of the taxpayer's taxable year preceding the tax year, the taxpayer is a related member to a corporation that elects to be a qualifying holding company for the tax year beginning after the last day of the taxpayer's taxable year, or if, on the last day of the taxpayer's taxable year preceding the tax year, a corporation that elects to be a qualifying holding company for the tax year beginning after the last day of the taxpayer's taxable year is a related member to the taxpayer, then the taxpayer's total value for the purposes of division (C) of this section shall be adjusted by the qualifying amount. Except as otherwise provided under division (D)(2) of this section, "qualifying amount" means the amount that, when added to the taxpayer's total value, and when subtracted from the net carrying value of the taxpayer's liabilities computed without regard to division (C)(2) of this section, or when subtracted from the taxpayer's total value and when added to the net carrying value of the taxpayer's liabilities computed without regard to division (D) of this section, results in the taxpayer's debt-to-equity ratio equaling the debt-to-equity ratio of the qualifying controlled group on the last day of the taxable year ending prior to the first day of the tax year computed on a consolidated basis in accordance with general accepted accounting principles. For the purposes of division (D)(1) of this section, the corporation's total value, after the adjustment required by that division, shall not exceed the net book value of the corporation's assets.

(2)

(a) The amount added to the taxpayer's total value and subtracted from the net carrying value of the taxpayer's liabilities shall not exceed the amount of the net carrying value of the taxpayer's liabilities owed to the taxpayer's related members.

(b) A liability owed to the taxpayer's related members includes, but is not limited to, any amount that the corporation owes to a person that is not a related member if the corporation's related member or related members in whole or in part guarantee any portion or all of that amount, or pledge, hypothecate, mortgage, or carry out any similar transactions to secure any portion or all of that amount.

(3) The base upon which the tax is levied under division (C) of section 5733.06 of the Revised Code shall be computed by multiplying the amount determined under divisions (C) and (D) of this section but without regard to section 5733.052 of the Revised Code.

(4) For purposes of division (D) of this section, "related member" has the same meaning as in section 5733.042 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 03-11-2004 .