LINCOLN — The Nebraska Supreme Courtroom dominated Friday that Phyllis Acklie and the property of her husband, Duane Acklie, can not escape paying Nebraska earnings taxes for 2010 via 2014.

The couple, who owned the Lincoln-based Crete Service Corp., claimed to be residents of Florida once they filed tax returns for these years. As nonresidents, they might not have had Nebraska taxes due for these years. Florida has no state particular person earnings tax. 

However the Nebraska Division of Income decided, as a part of an audit, that they had been nonetheless Nebraska residents and did owe state earnings taxes.

The couple protested the dedication, together with the tax, curiosity and penalties. State Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton denied their protest, so that they turned to the Lancaster County District Courtroom. When that courtroom additionally dominated towards them, they appealed to the upper courtroom.

Duane Acklie was chairman of Crete Service Corp. when he died in 2016. He and his spouse, Phyllis, purchased the corporate in 1971 and constructed it into one of many nation’s largest privately owned trucking firms. He was Crete Service’s CEO till 1991. Phyllis was vp, secretary and board member.

In addition to the trucking enterprise, the Acklies had longtime investments in banking, insurance coverage, agriculture and different enterprises. He served on a number of company boards and was a behind-the-scenes pressure in Republican politics for 2 generations.

In Friday’s ruling, the courtroom acknowledged that there was proof supporting Nebraska because the Acklies’ domicile and different proof supporting Florida. However the excessive courtroom stated the burden was on the Acklies to show that they’d modified their state of residence. It stated the district courtroom had acted moderately find they didn’t meet the burden.

“The district courtroom’s choice that each Duane and Phyllis didn’t show they modified their domicile from Nebraska to Florida for any of the tax years throughout the audit interval conforms to the legislation, is supported by competent proof, and is neither arbitrary, capricious, nor unreasonable,” the excessive courtroom stated.

Timothy Moll, an legal professional representing Phyllis Acklie and the property of Duane Acklie, didn’t reply to a message in search of remark. 

In accordance with Friday’s choice, the decrease courtroom “pointed to the Acklies’ sustaining two residences in Nebraska, registering autos and watercraft in Nebraska, being listed as salaried Nebraska workers situated within the Crete Service Company workplace in filings with the Division, sustaining huge actual property funding holdings in Nebraska for which they acquired taxable earnings, having property tax statements for these properties mailed to addresses in Lincoln, and spending significantly extra time in Nebraska than in Florida.”

The decrease courtroom additionally reviewed location summaries for every of the Acklies for the years in query, exhibiting their travels and the times they spent in Nebraska, Florida and elsewhere.

Primarily based on that data, the courtroom stated that they’d spent greater than 6 months, or 183 days, of every 12 months in Nebraska, except 2014, and that they used Lincoln as residence base for his or her travels. “It was the place from the place they departed and to the place they returned most continuously.”

It famous that state legislation defines a resident as “a person who’s domiciled in Nebraska or who maintains a everlasting place of dwelling on this state and spends within the mixture greater than six months of the taxable 12 months on this state.”

The choice stated the couple had produced proof supporting a change of residence to Florida in 2008. These embody shifting private property to a Florida residence they’d bought in 1997, getting Florida drivers’ licenses, registering autos within the state, registering to vote and voting in Florida and Phyllis’ sworn declaration on an utility for a Florida homestead exemption that she was a everlasting resident of Florida. The 2 used their Florida tackle when acquiring new passports in 2012.

However there additionally was proof of continued Nebraska residence. Every Acklie owned a residence in Lincoln, plus a number of funding properties across the state. They’d autos, a jet ski, a ship and a ship trailer registered within the state and had made quite a few political contributions utilizing a Nebraska tackle. They served as administrators, honorary board members or trustees for a number of Nebraska entities.