I’m often situations where people will ask me to explain what I do.  Once I get the initial “tax” word out of my mouth, and explain that my busy season isn’t coming up…it’s every month, I’ll get some random questions related to state sales tax – who creates it, when is the next sales tax holiday, how did it start, and have I heard of NOMAD?

With all the talk about simplifying Arizona (or not simplifying as it seems from a return preparer perspective), Tennessee has slipped in a totally new e-File system that has gone live and boasts the ability to file sales and use tax, privilege tax, tobacco tax, liquor-by-the-drink tax, and television & telecommunications sales tax online.

It’s hard to believe that Spring has sprung…at least down in the South it has.  With the coming of spring and daylight savings time on the horizon, many people find themselves starting that to do list and preparing budgets for home improvements, summer vacations, back to school, and more.

RISE UP ATLANTA FANS – Super-Bowl Sunday is just three short days away!  While I’ve been studying up on Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, and the rest of the Falcons team, I’ve also been planning my Super-Bowl Sunday Snacks and I love some chips, salsa, and home-made guacamole.

The long awaited day has finally come, the day in which all Sales & Use tax compliance addicts rejoice as Arizona finally rolls out the TPT Simplification.  That’s right folks, after a couple of false starts in recent years, TPT Simplification is LIVE on the Arizona website and I’m going to tell you all you need to know to quickly make the transition.

In recent news, the California State Board of Equalization (CA BOE) announced a statewide sales and use tax rate decrease of 0.25% from 7.50% to 7.25% on January 1, 2017.

I know your first thought was the Presidential election right?  No, silly, this isn’t a political rant, this is all about the new Sales and Transaction Taxes website!

Fast forward to this week, I received an email alert notifying me that TPT Simplification is drawing near, and effective with the January 2017 liability (due February 2017), TPT Simplification will be up and running and ALL locals will be reported and remitted to the State of Arizona via the Transaction Privilege Tax Return. 

Take a deep breath, count to 10…just as you have finally made yourself familiar with the Texas Sales & Use website, things are changing…

Let’s get real, sometimes we are too busy “multi-tasking” that we hear something in the background that just makes us turn our head in awe (like a confused puppy).  Over the last week I was filing sales tax returns and had “background noise” on (the news) and I overheard a local TV station mention...

It’s never too early to plan a shopping trip, especially when the savings could be significant.  Check out the latest and greatest Tax Free Holiday list for 2016.

Stay up to date with any additions by visiting http://www.taxadmin.org/sales-tax-holidays for additional information.

Doing business in the Yellowhammer state?  If so, pay close attention! 

The State of Alabama has announced the launch of their 2016 Tax Amnesty Program running June 30, 2016 – August 30, 2016. 

The amnesty program will apply to most taxes administered by the Department of Revenue, however, to confirm visit the new Alabama Amnesty website at http://alabamataxamnesty.com.

Just before the end of 1^st quarter, Massachusetts Department of Revenue announced their Tax Amnesty program for 2016, which will be open to all businesses needing to catch up on back taxes, save on typically assessed penalties, and benefit from a limited lookback period on unfiled returns (3 yrs.).

Effective January 1, 2016, California imposed a prepaid mobile telephony services (MTS) surcharge on purchasers of prepaid wireless services.

Sellers of prepaid wireless services will be responsible for the collection and remittance of the prepaid California MTS surcharge which will consist of the following:

Notices…A word that has such an ugly connotation to those of us in the compliance industry. While notices at TaxConnex have never been an issue of concern, the fact that jurisdictions are changing the way they communicate could indicate your recent lull in notice activity is giving you a false sense of security.