A Norfolk golf course is going to have to pay nearly $50,000 in back sales taxes and related fees.
Earlier this month, the Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed a ruling by state tax officials that Eldorado Hills Golf Course owes the state about $49,130.
Under state tax law, admission fees to a golf course are taxed, but membership dues are not.
The Berrington Corp., doing business as Eldorado Hills Golf Course, had appealed a ruling by the state tax commissioner that Eldorado Hills course's memberships weren't actually memberships but "admissions charges."
The state commissioner ruled that because the course's members had no power to vote for officers, hold office in the club or change its constitution and bylaws, fees paid by members were not membership but admissions and subject to tax.
Berrington's only shareholders are Eric and Anne Waddington and Mark and Marjorie Mooberry.
Mark Mooberry, the corporate manager at Eldorado Hills, declined comment Friday, saying it "was a private matter."
According to court documents, the Nebraska Department of Revenue determined that for the period of March 2, 2002, though Feb. 28, 2005, Berrington was assessed $40,894 in back taxes, with interest of about $3,925. Additionally, a penalty of nearly $4,310 was assessed, bringing a total amount of about $49,130 owed by the corporation.
"The major component of the deficiency was the auditor's determination that membership dues received by Berrington were actually admission charges which were subject to sales tax," according to court documents released in the May 15 ruling.
Previously, Berrington filed an appeal. The corporation also claimed a refund for sales taxes it had paid on snack food not intended for consumption on the premises of $3,228.
The Nebraska Supreme Court agreed with a district court ruling that found that Berrington did not prove that the snack foods in question were not sold through its restaurant as part of a meal, by its snack shop or through a vending machine. The refund was not granted.
Eldorado Hills was founded by Bob Hupp in the mid-1980s. He sold the 18-hole course in 1998 to Berrington Corp. led by Omaha businessman Rick Waddington and Mooberry, a former PGA head professional at Tiburon Golf Club in west Omaha.
The 145-acre course originally opened as a nine-hole course in 1987. The north portion of the course was open for play in the summer of 1996.
