B/P Impressions

As commerce grows increasingly virtual, lawmakers are adapting legislation to help maximize tax revenue in their states. But with all the changes, it's all accounting and finance professionals can do to keep up. Wakefield Research investigated why sales and use tax compliance is so complex and difficult to get right, and the results are contained in this free, downloadable report.

In mid-January we released a blog asking if the new tax tables mean more money for people's paychecks. In that post, we reported that The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was passed by the federal government in December, resulted in changes including increased standard deductions, removal of personal exemptions, increased child tax credit, and revisions to tax rates and income brackets effective for 2018. We also let you know that the IRS was working on updating the income tax withholding calculator and the Form W-4.

Because Oregon has no sales tax, many businesses that we work with don't have to concern themselves with compliance in that particular area. But as you might have learned about from reading our recent free whitepaper on sales tax changes arriving in 2018, cross-state sales tax compliance is a growing issue for growing companies. You want to be as certain as you can that your day to day activities aren't provoking unseen tax obligations. Here's an on-demand webinar to further your awareness of taxes.

State and federal tax law changes are causing employees everywhere to stop and reconsider what they are seeing on their paychecks. Even if workers don't see any adjustments at all, it might be a good time to evaluate the amounts being deducted for accuracy. After all, nobody likes surprises during tax season, and next year's might be a doozy for those who don't align their withholdings to the correct expectations.

President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law on December 22, 2017. Under the new law, the individual tax rate will be reduced to a maximum of 37%, which is down from 39.6% prior to the new bill being passed. The bill kept a seven-bracket tax structure, but the ranges have been adjusted to 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. These brackets are currently set to expire in 2025.

If you're responsible for keeping your company compliant with its sales tax obligations, then you’re probably already exhausted as the new year starts. In 2017, we saw tens of thousands of sales tax changes (36,254, changes to be precise) occur across all the states in the nation. But that may just have been a precursor for what’s coming in 2018. Depending on what you sell and where you sell it, your organization may continue to see - and have to respond to - more big sales tax changes this year.

Did you know that wholesalers and distributors are in the top five most-audited industries?
State and local sales and use tax regulations can be complicated, and the rules are constantly shifting. Historically, this unintuitive taxability has caused certain industries to struggle with compliance and, hence, to fall into the sites of government auditors far more frequently than others. In the free whitepaper published by Peisner Johnson & Company together with Avalara, you’ll learn which industries are most as risk and where the majority of errors stem from.

When researching our favorite beverage for National and International Coffee Days (Sept. 29 and Oct. 1), we discovered that coffee hyped up goats in ninth century Ethiopia and was dubbed a “bitter invention of Satan” by 17th century Christian Italians. Unexpected. Still, the history of coffee surprises us quite a bit less than the taxability of coffee drinks in several states.

It sometimes seems that there are as many ways to tax coffee as there are varieties of coffee drinks — and anyone who’s been to a Starbucks will recognize just how much that is. Taxability can be affected by the temperature of the coffee and whether it’s consumed on premises or sold to go. It can depend on the percentage of taxable food sales made by the seller and if the coffee is sold separately or as part of a combination. In fact, even the sweetness of coffee can affect taxability.

Curious? Grab a cup of the tasty brew and read on.

With myriad responsibilities involved in running a successful business, it should come as no surprise that preparing for a sales and use tax audit is not exactly a high priority - much less a favorite topic of conversation - among business owners. There are only so many hours in a day, and many companies opt to shift an examination of their compliance process to the back burner; at worst, the idea is ignored entirely. Even business owners who are ready and willing to tackle the issue rarely know where to begin. But a sales and use tax audit doesn’t have to be a specter that looms in the mind of every well-intentioned businessperson. Familiarity with one’s compliance process as it relates to industry-specific audit risk can make all the difference in the world.