A Bogus Notice?

It looks like the “bogus notice” is making a comeback!

As jurisdictions struggle with resources, many sales and use taxpayers find themselves on the receiving end of jurisdictional notices that are often bogus. What is a bogus notice? I have defined it as a notice that is generated by the jurisdictions software system when the return has not been entered in or processed by the jurisdiction by a specific day / time.

The jurisdiction’s system identifies the unlucky taxpayers on or around the 22nd of the month and in a matter of days, you are receiving a non-filing assessment that must be addressed within 10 days.

You filed the return on time right? Can you prove it? I hope so, because you will likely be spending several hours on the phone or in front of your computer trying to pull all of the information together to resolve a notice that shouldn’t exist…because you filed the return on time!

How do you know if you received a bogus notice? You don’t. Until you have completed your thorough review of the period in question, contacted the jurisdiction, sent in copies of everything to prove timely sales tax filing and received the anticipated assessment waiver letter the burden of proof still sits with you.

So what can you do to mitigate the risk of bogus notices? It is actually quite simple! While there is not a way to get rid of bogus notices all of the time, you can decrease them significantly by following these three simple steps:

• File Sales & Use Tax Returns Online
• Pay Sales & Use Tax Returns Online
• File Sales & Use Tax Returns by the 15^th of the Month – even if the return is due on the 20^th. You want to get your returns in before EVERYONE else. The jurisdictions have bottlenecks just like the rest of us and you don’t want your return in line behind the tens of thousands of other returns. This is especially true for paper returns.

Following one or all of these steps will mitigate the risk for notices. Additionally, if these steps seem daunting or you catch yourself thinking it is impossible, you should give TaxConnex a call to find out more about our sales tax solutions.