Once Again, California’s Sales Tax Administrators Try to Avoid Transparency
Most organizations, whether private or public, would prefer to avoid transparency. At best, allowing the public to review internal policies, procedures, and self-justification is tedious and time-consuming. At worst (from the organization’s viewpoint), transparency can shine a light on incompetence, faulty reasoning, unjustifiable processes, and, occasionally, outright corruption.
The agencies administering California’s sales and use tax program have shown a particular distaste for transparency. For decades the original agency, the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), refused to disclose the cases and documents underlying its regulatory interpretations, until it finally was forced to do […]
The Board of Equalization (BOE) often selects bars for sales and use tax audits. The fact that bars can deal with a significant amount of cash, and can often times have more relaxed financial controls than other types of businesses, make them an ideal target in the eyes of the BOE. In the audit of a bar, an auditor will generally examine the business’ sales records and then seek to verify the recorded amounts with a markup analysis. The markup analysis contains intricate computations and the auditor’s inability to identify certain intricacies […]
If you’re a restaurant owner that’s been through a California sales tax audit, you probably asked the auditor the above question at some point during the process. The answer you probably received was, “It depends,” or, “Sometimes.” If you’re lucky, you didn’t get further clarification in the form of an audit bill for tax on your employees’ tips.
On May 24, 2016, Jesse McClellan, Esq., Managing Partner, testified before the Members of the Board of Equalization at the California Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights Hearings regarding two issues that have been historically problematic for taxpayers. The first issue addressed pertained to the Board’s practice of permitting the Business Tax and Fees Department (Department) and/or the Legal Appeals Division (Appeals) to remove cases from the board hearing calendar without any meaningful reason or timetable. The second issue pertained to the lack of review for Administrative Protest denials.
and use tax nexus is a very fluid and evolving area of tax law, and although Congress has historically been considered to be the sole gatekeeper to change, states have recently become emboldened in their efforts to unilaterally lower nexus barriers. For example, on March 22, 2016, South Dakota passed S.B. 106 which effectively establishes an economic nexus standard. The law requires remote sellers to register and collect use tax on its sales into South Dakota if its sales into the state exceed $100,000 […]
First, let me discuss what the unit is supposed to be doing. The mission of SCOP, at least in theory, is one that’s beneficial to taxpayers. In short, they are supposed to be educating business owners on their sales/use/property tax responsibilities. In a business […]