Find a firm that provides tax audit representation services to have them review the findings. Sales tax auditors are generally paid to assess tax rather than give refunds, make sure you protect your rights and interest. First, they will minimize the assessment by focusing on the auditor’s scheduled items. Next, they should examine areas not tested by the auditor to identify credits or overpayments which can offset an audit assessment or support a claim for refund. ERS provides services ranging from turnkey audit representation to a limited review of findings, let us come in and prove we will be your trusted advisor. If you are in an audit or are starting one soon, have an expert come in to help manage the process.

If you are not going through an audit but have doubts about your sales tax compliance, ERS can perform an audit review, independent of an audit, and file claims for refund in any state. We also provide thorough documentation that is only filed upon your approval, to give you the extra sense of comfort. Opportunities exist in all industries that pay significant sales or use tax. Because we perform these studies on a “percentage of recovery” performance basis, you have zero risk, if we do not create savings. We don’t earn a dollar of fees until and unless we get you cash refunds.

With hundreds of sets of rules and thousands of regulations across the US, the clients need to accurately determine what products and services are taxable in each state. ERS can provide customized taxability studies that will determine which of the products and services you sell are taxable in any state. We prepare an easy-to-use sales tax matrix supported by research tailored to your specific products. The matrix will be supported by written opinions from states where taxability is uncertain. Our research will also minimize disputes with customers regarding sales tax billing and we include follow-up support at no additional cost.

Not reporting in a state increases the amount of time the state can go back into the past to collect unpaid taxes. The filing requirement (nexus) for sales and use taxes is much different than for income taxes. There are many activities that will not cause nexus for income taxes but will cause nexus for sales tax purposes. ERS will examine your activities on a multi-state basis, determine your sales tax exposure, and give you the tools necessary to determine whether it makes sense to register and file sales tax returns. If you decide to go contact states to disclose previous sales, PLEASE use a consulting firm to perform anonymous negotiations with a state to minimize the tax due, penalties, and the audit period. If you don’t contact them anonymously, they could go after you and seek the maximum dollars, penalties and interest before the agreement is final.

Sales tax avoidance and sales tax minimization is a taxpayer’s Constitutional right! ERS has implemented strategies to minimize sales and use tax on a wide variety of transactions, from software purchases to boats and airplanes, to sales of entire businesses. The key to these strategies is proper planning and documentation before the date of the transaction.

The sales tax reporting function is often delegated to lower-level positions in many companies. High turnover and low levels of training can often create inconsistency in the sales and use tax reporting functions. ERS will examine your reporting process and recommend solutions to correct problems and minimize sales tax exposure. Typical recommendations include in-house training, documenting reporting processes in a sales tax manual, or automating the sales tax compliance function.