Taxability Matrices and Technical Business Sales Tax Advice

Sales and use tax laws can be perplexing.  Every state applies and administers them differently and the products and services to which they are intended to apply are constantly evolving much faster than lawmakers can enact statutes and revenue departments can issue guidance.  Accordingly, new questions about the application of sales and use taxes to particular scenarios are constantly arising and there is regularly a need to make judgement calls as to how tax laws that haven’t kept pace should apply to products, services, scenarios, etc. that didn’t exist and weren’t anticipated when the statutes were originally enacted.  In such situations, actionable tax decisions are still needed, and a company’s adopted tax positions are often based as much or more on risk management and other business considerations than they are on the inconclusive tax laws.

Our professionals have excellent sales, use and transaction tax research skills and if there is authoritative guidance on a subject, we will find it. Focusing on sales, use and transaction taxes day in and day out, we also generally has a good feel for positions revenue departments are likely to take on audit and for positions other companies in the same industry are taking. Sometimes, the tax laws really are inconclusive, and the taxpayer will essentially need to make a business decision regarding the position it will ultimately adopt. In such cases, we will make sure that such decisions are well-informed ones from a risk management perspective and that you have everything you need to explain your decisions to auditors, vendors, customers, etc.

Antonious and Associate’s technical advisory services include but are not limited to sales and use tax taxability matrices, opinion letters, planning, and verbal business tax advice in New York, New York. A taxability matrix typically provides easy to understand taxability decisions in table format for multiple products and services in multiple states on one page if possible. The matrix typically cites relevant statutes, regulations and other authority supporting the taxability decisions and typically also includes explanatory footnotes. Opinion letters typically address one or a handful of questions that are of material significance to the taxpayer. They typically include a facts section outlining the facts upon which our analysis is based, an issues section clearly and succinctly defining the questions, a conclusions section briefly stating our conclusions and a detailed discussion section describing the analysis supporting our conclusions.

Antonious and Associate’s fees for services in this area are often performed for a fixed fee for each separate work product.

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