How to Avoid Putting Yourself at Risk of Sales Tax Compliance Disruptions

Document, document, document!  The best way to manage risk associated with potential disruptions (turnover, personnel changing roles, or acquisitions) within your sales tax department is to maintain thorough documentation of your department’s compliance processes.

Process documentation helps to reduce confusion related to process responsibility among staff members, can serve as training material for new staff, and can help non-department members understand department responsibilities.  A documented process can also minimize your risk associated with sales tax audits. If an auditor sees a well-orchestrated, documented process, it will provide the auditor a level of comfort that may prevent them from digging in places you don’t want them digging.