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Most of us listened to the countdown as the New Year dawned. And if you are like me, your mind wandered to resolutions for the coming year, after the midnight kiss of course! What would I resolve to change in my life? What would I strive to be better at? Then a new thought. What is it about the beginning of the calendar year that makes people want to change? Tradition? Maybe. Peer Pressure? Possibly. Hope? Definitely! The hope that with the turning of the year you have the power to turn your life. Hope is powerful and it's available year round. So this year, I resolve, above all else, to know that each day brings new hope and with new hope change can occur. I hope you'll join me to make the resolution to change whatever you want whenever you want, don't wait till the new year. The time and hope is always now.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Sales and Use Tax Links
Streamlined sales tax effort stalls, for now
Written from Arkansas' perspective, but a worthy commentary on the current state of affairs. thecitywire.com
Seven questions you should ask before choosing the right returns outsourcing provider.
I'm not sure all of these questions should be actually asked of your sales tax vendor, but they should be investigated nevertheless. cpa2biz.com
Wisconsin Wants You To Have Your Cake and Pay Tax on It Too
They changed the rules about ice cream cakes. Oh the horror. sabrix.com
Is Vermont's Sales Tax Driving Shoppers Accross The Border?
In the category of "duh", a study has concluded that New Hampshire's lack of a sales tax is stealing business from Vermont. sabrix.com
Medical-marijuana sales tax nets $2.2 million for Colorado this year
Cool, man. What's really hilarious though is that, every time I Tweet an article on this, I pick up a couple of legalize-marijuana followers. Do they even look at the rest of the tweets I've posted. Oh. Wait. Or, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I guess they could be into sales tax. denverpostcom
Largest Sales and Use Tax Delinquencies in California
California lists businesses who owe over $100,000. Amazing how many car dealers are on the list. Hmmmm. boe.ca.gov
How to Survive a Sales Tax Audit
1. Allow lots of time. This is gonna take a while
2. Keep good records. Too late now.
3. Be prepared to appeal. Don't take the auditor's word for it.
speedtax.com
January Sales and Use Tax Rate Changes
sabrixcom
City contract for private sales tax auditors in final stages (Oklahoma)
I'm bothered by the payment plan - it sounds like it's results-based. Not a good thing. tulsaworldcom
States Eye Digital Property as Source of Additional Revenues
Nice, short article on the topic. bnataxcom
Reverse Audit Reveals Georgia Owes $1 Million
If you haven't considered a reverse audit, maybe you should. It worked for the City of Augusta. avalaracom
Mississippi Introduces Click Through Nexus Bill sabrixcom
Illinois moves to tax online purchases internetretailer.com
The Bad Math of the 'Amazon Tax' chicagoist.com
Sigh. Nothing convinces me more of the collective low IQ's of state legislators like their continuing attempts at this.
This is just the best of the links I send out via Twitter on an almost daily basis. You can get them faster by subscribing to my Twitter feed. You will get more than sales tax links though. Just warning you.
The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Get these articles in your inbox - subscribe at http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Don't forget our upcoming seminars and webinars.
http://www.salestax-usetax.com/
Felony Watch: Sales and Use Taxes
Car repair shop didn't pay the 264,753 they collected. sabrix.com
Whopping $1.4 Billion Owed to California
This is money that sellers owe for taxes they've already collected. That is an awful lot of fraud going on. Sabrix.com
South Fort Myers pair charged in sales tax fraud ring
Convenience stores this time. Apparently, not only did they allegedly under-report their taxes, but collected taxes on sales that were exempt. naplesnews.com
Body-shop owner gets jail for sales-tax avoidance seattletimes.com
12 Tenn. county businesses charged with tax fraud
Total liabilty over $160,000. Convenience stores...check. Restaurants...check. businessweek.com
Indiana's Crackdown on Sales Tax Evaders Nets Some Very Lucky Dogs
Puppy mill failed to pay $311,000 in taxes. They got shut down and the dogs got much nicer homes. sabrix.com
New Program Matches Tax Evader with the Jail of His Dreams
Bar owner failed to pay $470,000 in taxes. The liability is now $1,300,000. avalara.com
NY restaurateur's sentence: Deliver pizza to poor
It's the typical restaurant scenario - charged his customers tax, but didn't pay it. He has to repay the taxes, plus provide a LOT of pie to the less fortunate. ibtimes.com google.com
You can get these links faster by subscribing to my Twitter feed. You will get more than sales tax links though. Just warning you.
The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Get these articles in your inbox - subscribe at http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Don't forget our upcoming seminars and webinars.
http://www.salestax-usetax.com/
Picture note: the image above is hosted on Flickr. If you'd like to see more, click on the photo.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Things that will get you in the worst trouble
I've talked about many of these particular issues, over the years. So I thought I'd compile a master article so that you can, at a glance, see if you're doing anything really, really wrong.First of all, I should define what I mean by "trouble."
1. Big assessments and big fines
2. Embarrassing assessments that, while not crippling the company, will nevertheless do bad things for your career
3. Large-scale overpayment of taxes. See item 2 regarding career impact.
1. Making sales that are taxable and you didn't know it. Do you perform taxable services? What about non line-of-business sales? Do you, for example, sell a lot of used equipment? Do you maintain a company cafeteria? You're probably selling more than just what's on the top line of your income statement. And don't even get me started about the other states you sell to. See below.
2. Related to 1 - making taxable sales in states where you have should have been collecting tax and didn’t realize it. In other words, you have nexus in a state but you don't know it. And you don't even know what are taxable sales in that state. It's a very common problem, and the states would really like to catch you.
3. In another instance of making sales you didn't know were taxable, beware of making intercorporate sales. Depending on your company, your business model, how you handle your paperwork, and the volume of the transfers, this may or may not be a problem. But you need to make sure. Of all of the assessments I've heard of, the biggest were in this category. And the only possible alternative for one taxpayer was bankruptcy.
4. Not collecting exemption certificates on your sales. This will mean more work for you when the audit hits, as well as embarrassment with the auditor, your management, and your customers. And you'll pay some taxes, interest and penalties.
5. If you buy a business, make sure you don't inherit the seller's sales tax liability. If you buy as a bulk sale, you will, unless you do it right.
6. Not accruing taxes on your taxable purchases where no taxes were collected by the seller. AP generally knows this one, but may not have food systems in place to be sure of catching all of these invoices.
7. Overpaying taxes on invoices that you thought were taxable, but weren't. More tips are in our Best Practices file.
8. Who is the person in your organization who is most knowledgeable about sales and use taxes? It's usually the controller, but it's often the AP staff. But note how many of the above problems are related to the sales and marketing departments. And how many of your sales and marketing people have any knowledge or understanding of sales and use taxes? Right. That's what I thought. Here's one example of what they can learn.
9. Relying on bad resources for answers. Calling the state is a no-no. So is believing the auditor without getting something in writing. Here are good sources of information.
10. Finally, collecting sales tax, but failing it remit it to the appropriate state. Frankly, if you’re doing this, you shouldn't bother reading this blog anymore. What’s the point? Get measured for an orange jump suit instead.
Here's a link to some horror stories that will make excellent bedtime reading.
The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
See the disclaimer - this is for education only. Research these issues thoroughly before making decisions. Remember: there are details we haven't discussed, and every state is different. Here's more information
Get these articles in your inbox - subscribe at http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Don't forget our upcoming seminars and webinars.
http://www.salestax-usetax.com/
Picture note: the image above is hosted on Flickr. If you'd like to see more, click on the photo.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sales Tax on Big Chickens?
You're on vacation and you stop in at an interesting looking art gallery. A giant chicken catches your eye and you buy it for $10,000,000. You're a collector of over-sized fowl and this one will be the crowning glory of your private art gallery. It's a good thing you've got that really high limit on your MasterCard.The dealer prepares the invoice.
Oh, come on! Whoever heard of paying $800,000 in sales tax? This can't be taxable!Chicken.............$10,000,000Sales tax (8%)..........800,000Total...............$10,800,000
Actually, it is. And you've just made the revenue department in this state very happy.
Let's use the golden rule of taxable sales:
1. There's a sale
2. It's tangible personal property. It's obviously tangible. You saw it and you sat on it. And it wasn't permanently affixed to the floor. So it's tangible personal property.
3. The sale was made by an art gallery - someone in the business of selling art - a retailer.
4. You're buying this for your home or office, not to resell, so you're the end user.
Congratulations, you owe sales tax.
Now, you didn't get rich by just throwing around $800,000 here and $800,000 there. There's got to be a way out, right?
Hmmm. Not really. There are some common evasions, but no real and legal way out.
1. You can ask the gallery to ship it out of state to your home in Gotham City, where all the best Big Chicken collectors hang out. There's no sales tax when you ship out of the state, right? The dealer, who just got audited last month, points out that he can't do that. Since you're in the store, and effectively have control of the Big Chicken as soon as the sale is signed, you have taken delivery in the store. That means that the state you're in has jurisdiction and will impose tax. If the seller doesn't do this properly, he'll get nailed by the auditor (again) when she comes back in six months.
2. Even if you convince the dealer (maybe he's new and hasn't been audited yet) to not charge tax and to ship it to your home in Gotham City, you will now owe use tax on that objet d′art in the great state of Gotham. And since you're so stinkin' rich, you know they're going to audit you one of these days. Actually, unfortunately this doesn't happen all that often. You do owe the use tax. Whether you pay it or not is more of a reflection of your character. Bruce Wayne would pay the use tax. Just sayin'.
A different scenario
Let's say you're driving down a dirt road while on vacation, and see a yard sale with that chicken standing there in all of its glory. In a cloud of dust you slam on the brakes and kind of casually ask the rube what he wants for that "old chicken."
"Ah'll take $10,000,000 please. Ah inherited that from mah Daddy and he durn told me whut it were worth."
Dang. You write him a check since he can't take a credit card, and have him arrange for shipment to Gotham City.
Now, there's been a change in the situation. It's no longer a sale by a retailer, it's an occasional sale. Since the farmer isn't a retailer (he was having his annual yard sale) he doesn't collect sales tax. And since you purchased the item in an occasional sale, you owe no use tax, either in the state where you bought it, or in Gotham. Remember, the sale wasn't by a retailer, therefore it wasn't a taxable retail sale.
So in this scenario, you've saved the $800,000 in sales and use taxes. Legally! But only because you bought it in an occasional sale. Buy it from a dealer, and you owe the tax.
As is usually the case, not every state does it in the ways I've described. There are variations in several states on the way they handle in-store purchases that are shipped out of state, as well as use tax on occasional sales. Do your research!
Which leaves us with the moral of this story:
If you're going to buy big chickens, stick to the dirt roads.
Yep, I know. Sometimes these articles just write themselves.
This is our last article for 2010. It has been a good year for us and I hope it has been for you as well. We currently have January and February on our webinar schedule and will be adding March, hopefully by the first of next week. Happy New Year!
The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
See the disclaimer - this is for education only. Research these issues thoroughly before making decisions. Remember: there are details we haven't discussed, and every state is different. Here's more information
Get these articles in your inbox - subscribe at http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Don't forget our upcoming seminars and webinars.
http://www.salestax-usetax.com/
Picture note: the image above is hosted on Flickr. If you'd like to see more, click on the photo.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Peas on Earth
I realize that I'm getting this out kind of late, but we all get Christmas cards late, don't we? Anyway, I'd like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas. And if that's not your holiday, then I simply hope you enjoy the blessings of this season. Thank you for your support.
Jim Frazier
The Sales Tax Guy
FOB
When I started writing this, I thought I'd give you a link that would explain what FOB meant. I was surprised that there are several different meanings for FOB, other than the one I was going for. This Wikipedia article should be sufficient to help you understand this term as I plan to use it.To oversimplify, FOB means where the legal title to the shipment transfers to the buyer. If the terms are FOB Origin (or shipping point), then the legal ownership of the goods transfers when the seller ships them. If the terms are FOB Destination, then the seller hasn't transferred the ownership to the buyer until they arrive at her receiving dock.
Legal ownership determines who is responsible for the freight, and who suffers the economic loss when the shipment is lost in transit. If you're the seller, you want to transfer ownership immediately, which means you're going to want the terms to be FOB Origin. If the item is lost, it's the buyer's problem.
On the other hand, if you're the buyer, you would prefer to have the terms be FOB Destination, which means that the seller still is responsible for the shipment, until it arrives at your dock. Purchasing agents usually negotiate terms as FOB destination just for that reason, particularly on more expensive items.
The question of the effect of FOB comes up frequently in sales and use tax conversations because people think that the FOB point determines the state that has jurisdiction over the transaction. It doesn't.
The state that has jurisdiction is, very simply, almost always the state where the physical delivery occurs, or where the buyer takes control over the goods - which is pretty much the same thing. This is because the tax that is imposed, when we're talking about an interstate sale, is use tax. And use tax is generally imposed when the buyer uses (or controls) the goods. No matter what the terms are, the buyer doesn't control the goods until they arrive at her dock (if shipped by common carrier).
Conversely, if the buyer (or her agent) picks up the goods herself (not using a common carrier), then the physical delivery occurs at the shipper's dock. This is so, even if the original terms of the sale were FOB Destination and the buyer changed her mind at the last minute. What counts is where the physical transfer of control took place, not where the contract terms state the ownership transfer occurs.
Think about it. If it was that easy to manipulate the state that had jurisdiction, then all Amazon.com would have to do is put their warehouse in Oregon (no sales tax in Oregon), and then ship everything FOB Origin. Then there would simply be no tax at all. But that's NOT how it works. What determines the state with jurisdiction is where the physical, real transfer of possession or control takes place. That's an event that can't be manipulated by contract language. And so that's the event that really counts.
When FOB does matter
Having said all of that, there are two states that specifically say that the FOB point determines which state has jurisdiction - Tennessee and New Mexico.
Tennessee isn't really a problem because they have a big loophole. As long as the seller arranges for the shipment of the goods, and the buyer doesn't pick them up, or arrange for the pickup, Tennessee doesn't claim jurisdiction. But if the buyer picks up the phone and calls the common carrier and arranges for them to pick up the goods at the dock in Tennessee, then Tennessee does claim that they have jurisdiction. The easiest way to solve this problem, other than letting the vendor arrange shipment, is to make sure the terms are FOB Destination. Then the loophole is moot.
New Mexico is different. They have no loophole. If you order something FOB Origin from Albuquerque, New Mexico says that the tax belongs to them. Period. This goes in the face of all of the things we talk about regarding interstate commerce. But the reason NM can get away with it is because they don't really have a sales tax. They have a gross receipts tax that is solely imposed on the seller. Since the transaction itself isn't being taxed, New Mexico can simply say that they get all of the taxes on anything that is sold in New Mexico, even if it's shipped out of the state. However, they are fair. If the terms are FOB Destination, they don't claim jurisdiction. So, as with Tennessee, the best solution when you're buying from NM is to make sure the terms are FOB Destination.
Please remember that there are some complications if you decide to make all of your purchases FOB Destination.
1. The vendor may not be interested in doing this. This is often an easy negotiating point, but sometimes the vendor stands firm. And you have to bring it up if you want the change. All sales contracts, if they're written by the seller, will state the terms as FOB Origin. That makes sense, since those terms are best for the vendor.
2. You may wind up paying the freight if the terms are FOB Origin. That could be a significant amount of money - even more than the sales tax. So watch this one.
3. In some states, the freight may be taxable if the sale is FOB Origin.
Summary
FOB points don't count in determining the state that has jurisdiction. What matters is where the goods are physically delivered. Well, that's except for two states: Tennessee and New Mexico. In those two states, the FOB point should be Destination to make sure the tax is for the delivery state. And since purchasing usually works to set this up anyway, it may not be a big problem.
The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
See the disclaimer - this is for education only. Research these issues thoroughly before making decisions. Remember: there are details we haven't discussed, and every state is different. Here's more information
Get these articles in your inbox - subscribe at http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com
Don't forget our upcoming seminars and webinars.
http://www.salestax-usetax.com/
Picture note: the image above is hosted on Flickr. If you'd like to see more, click on the photo.
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