The impact of sales and use taxes on a business can be surprising. It typically can reduce an organization’s bottom line by more than eight percent. We work with companies to help them comply with multi-jurisdictional sales tax laws to lessen their indirect tax burden.

It’s never been more important to accurately track and control sales and use taxes. As state and local governments look for revenue, companies are routinely audited by state and local taxing authorities for sales and use taxes more than any other type of tax.

Keeping up with the thousands of sales and use jurisdictions across the country can be a tremendous challenge for companies. The good news is that controlling and optimizing sales tax is the one thing every company can do that makes a daily impact to the bottom line.

What Sales and Use Tax Consulting Services Does A&M Provide? 

Working directly with company management, our tax professionals provide tailored services to assist your Finance organization and/or sales tax department with its operational performance improvement and implement comprehensive plans to maximize value, including the following areas: 

• SALES TAX OVERPAYMENTS: Reverse Audits — We help clients recover and manage “above-the-line” taxes (indirect taxes) by conducting a “Reverse Audit” to identify areas of overpayment and assisting in recovering overpayments from tax authorities and vendors.
• SALES TAX AUDIT DEFENSE: Audit Management and Defense — We advise on all aspects of a sales tax audit, from discrete audit support to full audit management, assisting with the examination, sampling design and methodology and tax controversies.
• Bad Debt Recovery: Uncollected Sales Tax Recovery — We assist with the review of sales taxes that have been remitted to State Taxing authorities but were not collected from customers.
• Restructuring — We help manage the proof of claims/state audits, secure cash associated with refunds and provide interim assistance managing sales and use tax activities.
• Sarbanes Oxley Compliance: Process and Controls Review — Preventative and detective controls are the key to managing an organization’s sales and use tax related risks. We analyze the Organization’s policies and procedures to identify opportunities to implement process improvements so clients can unlock value.
• Sales Tax Nexus Analysis — Identifying the state and local jurisdictions where a company is required to comply with sales tax has grown increasingly complicated. We help smooth out sales and use tax compliance obligations.
• Sales Tax Product Taxability Analysis — The rules for taxing a sale of  modern digital products and services are often as complex as the technology which enables the product.  We help clients to determine the correct tax rules for the sale of their products. 
• Sales Purchases Analysis — Is a Sales tax exemption available for your purchase? Are vendors undercharging sales tax on purchases? Many jurisdictions offer industry-specific exemptions, and your vendors may not be able to keep up with the exemptions your organization could be claiming. A purchases taxability analysis helps to identify the correct sales tax treatment for a purchase, according to the nature of the use.  We help clients determine which of their purchases are subject to tax and which jurisdiction has the right to tax the purchase.
• Sales and Use Tax Exposure Analysis — Underpayments happen. Knowing about and quantifying underpayments keeps your balance sheet up-to-date and is an important preparatory step for audit preparedness.

What Are the Benefits of A&M’s Sales and Use Tax Services? 

A&M seeks to help clients reduce their sales tax burden and ease the pain of tax compliance in an area of law that attracts scrutiny. Benefits of our sales and use tax consulting service include: 

• Cash savings: We help clients recover sales tax overpayments.
• Risk mitigation: Clients concerned about misreporting sales tax can better understand their exposure. 
• Auditor management: Our team works on behalf of the client to negotiate with state auditors to remediate any underpayment issues or to recover cash when the client has overpaid sales tax.  

Why Should You Use A&M’s Sales and Use Tax Services? 

Our broad expertise in sales and use tax work helps us resolve issues as quickly as possible. We see each engagement as an opportunity to build relationships. Additionally, we provide:

• Trusted partnership: We seek to develop the highest level of personal relationships with our clients to build long-term trust that lasts long after the project is complete. 

Are A&M's Sales and Use Tax Services Only for Distressed Companies? 

No. For non-distressed or healthy companies, making sure they have clear visibility into whether they are in compliance with sales and use tax law can be a concern. We guide clients through a full range of services to remain efficient and compliant, including identifying tax jurisdictions where the company has nexus, evaluating the taxability of products and services sold, assisting with remediation efforts to reduce exposure, minimizing underpayments of tax, recovering overpayments of tax, assisting with audit management and evaluating the internal processes to ensure they are most efficient.

We help companies at all points in their business lifecycle manage and control the sales and use tax function. For companies going through restructuring, we provide the interim sales and use tax function and can often secure cash through refunds or revisiting existing contract terms to help pay creditors. 

Did you know?

At 7.25 percent, California has the highest state sales tax rate in the nation. The average state-level sales tax rate among the 50 states and the District of Columbia is 5.09 percent, but because most states impose both a state and a local sales tax, the combined state and local sales tax rates can be much higher. 

Source: World Population Review

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Sales and Use Tax Services