How to Troubleshoot a Sales Tax Issue
If you’ve ever had a sale tax issue, you know from first-hand experience that they are no fun. They are stressful, anxiety-inducing, and can keep you at night worrying about what will happen next.
Regardless of what that feeling in the pit of your stomach is telling you, don’t panic. Instead, you’ve got to face this problem head-on and troubleshoot your way to a solution.
Call on an Expert
You may think to call on a CPA when you’re trying to troubleshoot a sales tax issue, but what you’re really looking for is a SALT (sales and local tax) accountant, an expert in the field.
They will have the experience and knowledge to untangle your complicated sales tax situations.
For example, they might provide a nexus review to make sure you’re adhering to all the state tax laws that might apply to you. If you’re getting audited, they would walk you through the process. If you’re looking for someone to help you with your sales tax issues, this directory of experts is a good place to start.
Call the State
If you have a single straightforward question on tax law, you can contact your state’s tax assessing agency. Most have frequently asked questions on their website to clear up simple questions. They’ve also got contact information on their website, including a toll free number and hours of operation. You can also check out this state by state list of phone numbers to call.
Just remember to be careful not to take something someone on the state hotline says as law because even they can get it wrong. If it’s really important or contradicts what you know of state law, ask for it in writing. Just be warned that a written ruling can take weeks or months.
Try Your Peers
Although it may not feel like it right now, you’re not the first or the last retailer to find themselves with a sales tax problem. Other retailers can commiserate with you and perhaps offer advice from first-hand experience. They can share tools and resources that they’ve used along with personal reviews of them.
To find helpful peer groups, you could start with local organizations like the Chamber of Commerce or maybe a small business league. Online connections count, too. TaxJar runs a Facebook group for sales tax for ecommerce sellers. You can start there if you’re looking for some support from your peers.
Try TaxJar
Have you considered getting some ongoing, automated help for your sales tax issues?
TaxJar offers a variety of services to help you deal with the million little things that can come up in the course of staying compliant. It can help you determine nexus states you need to file in and what percentage you need to collect for sales tax. It will tell you how much sales tax you should have collected as well as how much you owe. You can try TaxJar free for 30 days and there’s no credit card needed for during your no-risk set up.
How to Troubleshoot a Sales Tax Issue
TaxJar is a service that makes sales tax reporting and filing simple for more than 10,000 online sellers. Try a 30-day-free trial of TaxJar today and eliminate sales tax compliance headaches from your life!