Pepe State Tax Consulting -- The Florida Tax Specialists

SERVICES

Audit Defense

PSTC represents clients during state and local tax audits, with particular expertise in Florida sales tax audits and Florida communications services tax audits. PSTC will identify nontaxable or exempt transactions scheduled by the auditor, evaluate the auditor's sampling methods and periods and suggest alternative approaches, negotiate the reduction or elimination of penalties, identify potential overpayments to offset tax liabilities, and negotiate settlements with the state taxing authority regarding your liability. I will attend meetings with you and the tax auditor in order to help formulate an audit gameplan that is acceptable to the state and favorable to the client. PSTC drafts informal protests and handles hearings in front of appeals boards within the state revenue agencies. PSTC maintains strategic alliances with law firms specializing in state & local tax practice when litigation is necessary to resolve the matter.

Sales and Use Tax Refunds (Reverse Audits)

PSTC performs reverse audits to recover overpayments of sales and use tax resulting from court decisions, policy changes, missed exemptions, and compliance errors. Even if your company has a well-trained tax and accounts payable department, they do not have the time to review previous sales and use tax filings and keep up-to-date on the nuances of vague and confusing state tax laws. Our experience allows us to identify and recover the overpayments efficiently. This is an opportunity for a FREE analysis of your sales and use function, to determine whether your company has either tax exposure or an opportunity to recover overpayments of tax. This is a no-risk opportunity to see whether the state owes YOU money!

Tax Research, Ruling Requests, Opinion Letters, and General Consulting

PSTC researches the proper tax treatment of business transactions and provides the answers in a user-friendly format, including tax memos and decision making matrices. PSTC drafts and submits ruling requests to state revenue agencies in order to receive written technical advice from the state with regard to a particular business transaction. PSTC authors opinion letters analyzing and explaining the state tax consequences of business transactions. Additionally, I am available to provide tax directors/managers, accountants, accounts payable personnel, controllers, and CFO's accurate answers to everyday state tax questions over the phone, while considering alternative approaches and tax savings opportunities, which you will not find when calling your state revenue agency.

Sales Tax Compliance Review

PSTC can review your sales tax compliance function to ensure that the proper processes and procedures are in place for determining and reporting sales tax, and to ensure that sales tax returns are completed accurately and timely. PSTC often works with companies to resolve outstanding tax delinquency notices that are computer generated by the state taxing authority due to errors on the sales tax return. PSTC can identify the reason why the notices are being generated and can help your company amend erroneous sales tax returns. PSTC works with state revenue officials to file the amended returns, clear the outstanding notices, and obtain penalty abatement in certain situations.

Strategic Tax Planning

PSTC assesses clients' tax positions and develop strategic tax planning opportunities, including transaction restructuring to minimize tax consequences, business reorganizations, and alternative filing positions. For example, the use of a leasing company to acquire assets with limited useful lives such as vessels, aircraft, or machinery and equipment can provide legal and business benefits, while also providing deferment and/or minimization of sales tax.

Multi-state Nexus Reviews

PSTC performs multi-state reviews of clients' activities to determine filing and compliance responsibility in all states. PSTC can minimize the impact of oversights by finding potential exemptions and other methods of minimizing exposure to state taxes.

Voluntary Disclosure, Penalty Abatement, and Payment Plans

PSTC helps clients reap the benefits of voluntarily correcting compliance oversights, such as reducing the state agency look-back period and eliminating penalties through state amnesty/voluntary disclosure programs. Even for liabilities that the state is aware of, PSTC works with the state revenue agency to reduce or eliminate penalties depending on the facts and circumstances of the situation. PSTC can negotiate reductions in tax and interest with many states based on your financial situation. PSTC can also negotiate favorable payment plans with the state revenue agency regarding your remaining tax and interest liability.

Financial Reporting Compliance

PSTC works with companies to assist in compliance with financial reporting requirements related to disclosure of potential state tax liabilities, such as FIN 48, Sarbanes-Oxley 404, and FAS 5 and 109.

Alternative Compliance Procedures

PSTC assists our clients with the evaluation, development, and implementation of innovative sales and use tax compliance procedures, such as managed compliance agreements (a use tax percentage reporting method).

Administrative Rule Representation and Statutory Drafting

PSTC can represent your company in rulemaking hearings held by state taxing authorities, in order to provide written and verbal input toward or challenges to proposed state tax administrative rules or regulations that affect your company. PSTC can also work with your company's lobbyist or governmental relations personnel to draft proposed statutory changes to address unfair or unintended consequences of current state tax laws.

Litigation Support

PSTC provides litigation support and expert witness testimony to assist in resolving tax controversies.

Due Diligence

PSTC reviews the state tax exposure of a company for purposes of acquisitions and mergers. PSTC will also suggest measures for buyers and sellers of businesses to take to mitigate potential state tax exposure.

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