The worst feeling in the world is usually not knowing.  Not knowing what the future holds or how bad something will be.  Our imagination often gets the better of us.

The same goes for sales tax.  Knowing you owe taxes but not knowing how much or what to do about it makes it easy to just run and hide.  Ignoring the problem even though it keeps you awake at night.  But if you find the right professional, they can help you resolve the issue (and sleep a lot easier at night).

What is a Voluntary Disclosure Program?

Most states offer a Voluntary Disclosure Program.  These programs allow you to initiate contact with a state, let them know you owe them money, and remit that tax without facing a strict punishment.  Sometimes, you can even reach an agreement with a state anonymously, only disclosing the business’s name once an agreement is reached.

What are the benefits of the Voluntary Disclosure Program?

The benefits from these programs can be plentiful.  Depending on the state, you might be able to have penalties completely abated, interest reduced, and/or the look-back period limited meaning the state will only seek monies from the last few years.  Usually, you can also set up a payment plan so you don’t have to pay back the money all at once.

Get help when you need it!

If your business wants to fix its prior sales tax issues and wants to be in compliance in the future, we can help!

Refund, Refunds, and More Refunds

A taxpayer made a few mistakes in their sales tax filings over the last three years.  In some quarters, they owed sales tax to New York State.  In other quarters, they were owed New York State sales tax.

For the quarters where the business owed New York State money, we filed a request for a Voluntary Disclosure and Compliance Agreement.  As part of this program, we were able to negotiate penalty abatement, interest reduction and a limited look-back period so New York State did not review any information earlier than three years ago.

For the quarters where New York State owed the business money, the taxpayer received refund checks totaling over $20,000.

By understanding the New York State programs, we were able to get the taxpayer a refund while limiting the harm when they owed money.