Tax Services

State and Local Tax

A strategic approach to state and local taxes (SALT) can help you reduce overall tax liability and enhance your financial position. Our SALT team brings a diversity of expertise and extraordinary experience to help you save money, going beyond compliance to ask the right questions and identify new tax saving opportunities.

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Why SALT Matters

Simplifying Complexities

With thousands of different jurisdictions to track, the interplay between federal, state and local tax legislation can be extremely complex and difficult to manage. By partnering with highly knowledgeable state tax professionals who take a big-picture view of your situation, you can find the holistic tax solutions that work best for you.

Our Approach

Addressing Common SALT Hurdles

Navigating Compliance Issues

Increasing responsibilities related to an expanding business or remote workforce can make compliance difficult. Our SALT experts help you understand the varying state and local tax requirements and fulfill your tax obligations.

Mergers & Acquisitions

From tax planning considerations at the forefront of an acquisition to disposition of entities, we help you anticipate and meet buyer and investor needs for a successful transaction.

Geographic Expansion and Remote Employees

Our SALT advisors can identify key tax concerns and nexus considerations, formulating customized solutions to support the expansion of your geographic footprint.

Financial Statement Audits

Find clarity and confidence in the financial statements you depend on to inform business decisions. Our deep expertise and breadth of knowledge help ensure you uncover the whole financial story, not just what’s on the surface.

State and Local Tax Alerts
Latest Updates
SALT Alerts
Local legislative updates impact how you do business on a daily basis. We're here to make sure you have the latest information and understand how it affects you.
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Wickedly Smart SALT Experts

At the state and local level, you need a professional who can answer your questions as they pertain to your specific jurisdiction, not to mention someone with an intimate understanding of the laws and requirements for your city and state. Our team of tax experts are uniquely qualified to address the intricacies and complexities of a wide range of SALT matters.

Among other credentials, we have bar-certified professionals (California, Connecticut, District of Columbia and New York), CPAs (California, Missouri and Georgia), CMIs (property and sales tax) and enrolled agents. 

Services

How We Can Help

Abandoned and Unclaimed Property (AUP)

Almost all businesses, whether they realize it or not, have the potential to generate unclaimed property through normal business operations.  Without a proper understanding of the corresponding reporting requirement, unclaimed property can create significant liabilities in the form of penalties, interest and excessive utilization of company resources. Get expert help with review policies and an assessment of your current unclaimed property exposures and risk.

Business Activity Tax

With tax legislation changing rapidly at national and local levels, you deserve a team of tax professionals who can assist you with all your business activity tax needs. Develop and implement a strategy that works to help you stay compliant with state and local tax requirements while minimizing your tax bill.

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Credits and Incentives

Federal, state and local credits and incentives are opportunities to reinvest in your company and, when properly leveraged, can offer significant savings. These government incentives are meant to encourage growth and innovation, especially within specific jurisdictions, and can be available retroactively for qualified businesses. Whether you’re looking to negotiate tax incentives or need to know what credits you can claim through expansion, downsizing or relocating, we’re here to help.

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Local Tax

Cities and localities often have their own layer of tax. As a national firm, our tax team brings deep knowledge of municipal tax issues and city-specific strategies to benefit your tax position, especially in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland, St. Louis, Austin and other locations throughout the country.

Property Tax

Is your business property being valued and taxed appropriately? Often, business owners don’t fully understand which expenses and assets are taxable and how their tax value is established. Depending on your industry, business structure and local tax authorities, you could reap significant tax savings by pursuing a property tax analysis.  Utilize our proven, multi-step assessment process to uncover real estate and business personal property tax savings.

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Wayfair has left many business leaders wondering if they are creating unrecognized risk. Get clarity and customized solutions that enhance your operational efficiency while supporting full compliance, so you can focus on doing business — not doing battle.

Our uniquely qualified team of advisors provide solutions specific to your situation, enhance operational efficiency and ensure that your business is fully compliant. We make this process simple for you, allowing your team to focus on expanding your business without the growing pains.

  • Nexus Studies - Have you evaluated where your business has a sufficient economic presence ("Wayfair nexus") or physical connection to establish a sales/use tax collection obligation? Are you aware that if your products/services are taxable in states where your company has established nexus, you can be held liable for uncollected sales/use taxes? Our sales tax team can perform this evaluation to identify and quantify these tax collection obligations and related prior period liabilities for the applicable taxes, interest and penalties, and recommend a plan for remediation.
  • Registrations and Voluntary Disclosure Agreements (VDAs) - If a nexus and taxability study determines that your company must start collecting sales/use tax, the penalties for prior period noncompliance can be eliminated by registering with the state through its specific VDA process. If you are already registered for the tax type in that state, we can assist with amending returns to report the appropriate tax and negotiate a lesser penalty.
  • Sales and Use Tax Return Compliance - When your business collects sales/use tax from customers, you must remit this tax to the state or jurisdiction. There are many options for accomplishing this task — from you preparing and submitting the returns manually, to a fully automated software solution. We work with you to discover the platform that makes the most sense.
  • Sales and Use Tax Software (Tax Engine) Consultation - Once your company is registered to collect sales/use tax, you’ll likely need a software solution to seamlessly apply the correct amount of tax to customer invoices or e-commerce checkouts. This software function is generally referred to as the "tax engine." There are many companies that sell tax engines, and we can help you find the solution that is the best fit based on your needs.
  • Sales and Use Tax Audits – Companies undergoing a state or local sales/use tax audit frequently require help to manage the audit process. With budget shortfalls, we are expecting there will be many more audit notifications in years to come. Our SALT team includes numerous former state tax auditors, and this professional experience helps us strategically manage the audit process for you.
  • Due Diligence - During buy-side due diligence, we can do a prior period liability calculation for transaction cost adjustments. During sell-side due diligence, we can support preparation to document your organization’s position on nexus, taxability and prior period sales/use tax liability.
  • Sales and Use Tax Minimization Consulting and Reviews - We can advise on transaction structuring to minimize sales and use tax liability including location analysis, intercompany transactions and exemptions.
  • Reverse Audits - Often companies do not realize that there is an exemption available to them, and state auditors typically overlook such overpayments during state sales and use tax audits. We can review your records to see if there are any refund opportunities (e.g., to see if you have paid tax on any exempt transactions).
Experts
Alex Thacher - Partner, Tax - San Jose, CA | Armanino
Partner
Alex is the National Practice Leader of Armanino’s State & Local Tax (SALT) practice.

San Francisco, CA
Mike Shaikh - Tax | Armanino
Partner
Mike advises clients on a wide variety of state and local tax matters.

Irvine, CA
Stephanie Shorkley - Tax | Armanino
Partner
Stephanie provides multistate income tax planning, compliance and consulting services.

San Ramon, CA
Resources
SALT News & Insights
FAQs: Find Gaps in Your SALT Compliance With These 7 Questions
Article
Identify gaps in state and local tax (SALT) compliance and discover where you may need to address outstanding issues.

February 23, 2023
Colibri Group Resolves Complex Tax Issues and Remains Compliant Amid Double-Digit Revenue Growth
Case Study
Timely expert advice helped mitigate the growing company’s tax risk while helping it scale.

January 13, 2023
Staying on Top of Your Liability Exposure Through the Complex SaaS Environment
Webinar
Industry leaders discuss Nexus and its effects on software taxation.

August 24, 2022 | 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PT
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