Sales Tax Audit, Florida Defense Help
We are a full-service tax firm that specializes in federal and state tax representation.
Our staff consists of tax attorneys, certified public accountants, former IRS agents and a former sales tax agent with over 16 years of direct work experience with the Florida Department of Revenue.
Factors that could have caused your Florida business to become a target of a sales tax audit
- Do you purchase supplies for your business from out-of-state vendors or through the Internet?
- Did you sell goods at retail, or wholesale products which you manufacture,
- Did you sell services in Florida, can you be sure you are collecting the appropriate amount of sales tax on the sale of your goods or services?
- If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions you might be targeted by the State of Florida for a sales and use tax audit.
The state of Florida Sales Tax Audits targets different businesses, different industries and different geographical boundaries to make sure they have a very balanced approach to the sales tax audits in the state of Florida. They must ensure total coverage for the entire state therefore all industries and businesses are included in sales tax audits.
No industries are excluded. When the state of Florida sales tax division finds widespread industry abuse they will put a lot of their time and resources into correction.
As a general rule that could mean convictions, heavy penalties, fines and certainly media and newspaper publicity. They do this to get the attention of the public and mainly to help control industry abuses.
As a general rule when the state or federal agency puts out a number of press releases it is attempting to let the public know there plan a future attack.
It also should be noted that the state of Florida sales and use tax division conducts random audits as well as targeted audits.
Other factors that have to be considered for Sales Tax Audits:
• industries presently selected as targets
• prior audit history
• amount of exempt sales being claimed
• Amount of total sales being reported
• ratio of exempt sales to total sales
• location of the business
• adverse information from customers or employees
Most of these factors are obvious but the state of Florida sales tax audit division is always coming up with more programming targeting the industries where revenue success is obvious.
Companies with a history of prior audits where there was significant recovery will definitely get audited again.
Larger companies with high amounts of sales and those reporting high amounts of exempt sales are also targeted.
Recent Developments for Sales and Use Tax Audits, State of Florida
Recently, the Florida Department of revenue has targeted industries such as convenience stores new and used vehicle dealerships, hotels and any other business that sold alcoholic beverages such as restaurants and bars.
Also bars, restaurants and liquor stores can be cash based businesses and cash reporting could be a real red flag.
Increased Activity
Florida has increased its activity of audits to the point that state tax audits outnumber internal revenue service audits by a significant number.
Companies that seem to be at greatest risk for a sales tax audit are manufactures, retailers, and service businesses that make a large amount of purchases of supplies for their company.
Red Flags for Sales Tax Audits – Florida
Red flags such as out-of-state sales or large amount of exempt sales by retailers can trigger a sales tax audit and can cost the retailer a significant amount in tax dollars.
Florida imposes use taxes on purchases of tangible goods and certain services therefore businesses that do not collect sales tax on their product or service because they are not taxable are also flagged by the Florida Department of revenue for sales tax audits.
Received the Florida form DR 840
If the Florida Department of revenue, Sales Tax contacted your company about a pending Florida sales and use tax audit or you have already received the Florida form DR 840 – notice of intent to audit books and records your company could already have been selected as a target and you could be subject to a large assessment for tax, interest and penalty.
Contact us today and find out just who we are and how we can help you if you are need of a Florida sales tax audit representation.
We are one of Florida’s most experienced firm for Sales Tax Audits Defense Help
We are a full-service tax firm that specializes in federal and state tax representation.
Our staff consists of tax attorneys, certified public accountants former IRS agents and a former sales tax agent with over 16 years of direct work experience with the Florida Department of Revenue.
