NY Tax Chief Defends ‘Retroactive’ Fixes After Court Losses

California has faced tax practitioners’ criticism for passing legislation undoing a ruling that granted Microsoft a $94 million income tax refund. But tax officials from other states said Wednesday that such cleanup bills are fair when the law as written isn’t achieving lawmakers’ policy objectives.

“Your retroactive tax legislation is our corrective legislation,” Amanda Hiller, New York’s acting tax commissioner and general counsel of the taxation department, said at a New York University tax conference in midtown Manhattan.

Hiller’s comments come a month after California lawmakers included changes in the state budget blocking multinational companies from winning refunds like those ...