I just received a sales tax audit letter from the state.

If you have received a sales tax audit request from any state, our sales tax consultants are available to help. We have former state sales tax auditors providing sales tax consulting services with significant experience in sales tax audits in all states. We have managed the sales tax department of fortune 500 corporations. Our team has seen more auditing methods than most sales tax auditors, because we have worked with auditors from many states.

What do I do in a sales tax audit?

The sales tax auditor will request certain documents and records. If you have done a good job in collecting sales tax and in maintaining good sales records, then the sales tax audit might be straight forward. There is no need to engage any sales tax consulting help during the sales tax audit because the auditor would do the audit work at no cost to you. You'd simply provide the requested documentations to the auditor. Each auditor has a different audit style that would be known near the end of the audit.

What if I get a sales tax assessment?

You can review the auditor's work for any error and try to reduce the assessment. Most auditors are reasonable and would work with you. If any assessment is small, most taxpayers would pay and be done with the audit. What if I have done my best and the assessment is not small?

It is the best time to engage sales tax consulting help or assistance. At this stage, the auditor's style and methods are known. We would review the auditor's workpapers and provide a quote to you. Should I hire a CPA, a Tax lawyer, or a sales tax expert?

CPA's are great usually for accounting, bookeeping, or annual income tax work, and maybe sales tax in their own state. The majority of most CPA's work is in accounting/bookkeeping. You might evaluate whether your CPA has the expertise with sales tax regulations to verify Auditor work, and also if needed to file appeals beyond the audit department.

Tax lawyers might be effective in navigating the court bureaucracy if you sue the state. However to effective review auditor work, it is necessary to have audit experience. You might verify if the tax lawyer was a former sales tax auditor with an Accounting degree.

We are sales tax experts who focus and specialize in multistates sales tax only. We cannot help with A to Z accounting, bookkeeping, income tax or other taxes. We are experts on using the sales tax return systems in all states, from registration to filing returns. We also have former sales tax auditors on staff to assist with sales tax audit refund recovery.

If you are being audited, please follow the above steps. In most cases, any assessment might be small and you would be done with the audit without incurring any extra cost. If sales tax consulting is needed, Please contact us and our sales tax consultants will reply quickly.