Making Sales Tax Less Taxing

Erica Bacco of Avalara spoke of trends in the sales/ use tax arena at our monthly First Tuesday networking session. She presented some compelling examples of how this non-revenue generating activity can not only be incredibly time consuming, but can have a huge negative effect if not done correctly. She talked of how textbooks, while nontaxable in our home state of Pennsylvania, they are subject to sales tax in other states. Or, how zip code databases don’t always calculate sales tax correctly, since they don’t include different local assessments for that code.  She showed this example from 80111 in Colorado.

One question came up – when should I add a tax management solution? Here are Erica’s tips on what to consider:

• Collect sales tax in several or any home rule states?
• Want to get amnesty or audit protection from the SST Project?
• Sell products with complex tax rules?
• Plan to add on new products, a web store or additional locations?
• Manage a remote sales force or contract labor?
• Have multiple order entry points that are not managed by a single resource?
• Just want to get rid of the manual work….

  

We had a great group of local business members, sharing ideas and resources and learning all about the exciting world of sales tax! Carl Ruyevcan, of Third Generation - a Pittsburgh area business that provides the latest generation of communication technology and service solutions, including VoIP, voice and data networks – shared with the group his story about almost not surviving a sales tax audit, when working at a previous organization.

  

Make sure you mark your calendars for First Tuesday, and attend one of these great sessions! Vertical Solutions First Tuesday format: one hour of free CPE will be offered from 4:00-5:00pm followed by a networking session. During the networking session you will be able to meet and develop relationships with other CPA’s and CPA support organizations; lawyers, bankers, insurance brokers, wealth advisors, technology companies, etc. Contact Tina Featheringham, if you would like more information.