For example, the Texas Comptroller has audit offices in Los Angeles, New York City, and Tulsa, Oklahoma. California has field audit offices in Chicago, New York, and Houston. There are Missouri Department of Revenue offices near Chicago, Dallas, and New York, while the Florida Department of Revenue has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and Pittsburg. The Utah State Tax Commission doesn’t specify where all it has sales and use tax auditors but notes that they “spend a majority of their time at taxpayers’ offices looking at detailed sales and purchase transactions” and “travel to locations all over the United States to perform their work.”

Field auditors employed by the Washington State Department of Revenue may audit businesses in multiple states. The Department divides the country into several sections: an Out-of-State North District (Eastern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), an Out-of-State South District, and so on. Field audit offices develop and implement audit programs to optimize accurate tax reporting and payment by businesses located throughout the target area.

What Do Auditors in Other States Do?

Auditors frequently examine sales by companies that are headquartered in other states but have nexus (a connection strong enough to trigger a tax collection obligation) in the auditor’s home state. Yet a company doesn’t have to be registered with a state to be targeted by that state’s audit division. While many audits are selected by a random sampling of registered businesses, auditors knock on the doors of unregistered businesses whenever evidence suggests that they may owe the state tax revenue. This is true both in-state and out.

Many states have increased audits since the Great Recession, hiring new auditors as needed. New Mexico’s Audit and Compliance Division has added approximately 62 FTE employees since economy plummeted. And in 2015, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue announced that it needed 102 additional auditors and 11 additional agents to help uncover what was estimated to be approximately $80 million in unpaid tax revenue. Many of the new hires are focusing on businesses based in other states.

States Work Together

In addition to sending auditors to other states, state tax administrators frequently work together. Regional information-sharing agreements between states, such as the following, can greatly help facilitate audits:

NESTOA, North Eastern States Tax Officials Association (Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont)
SEATA, Southeastern Association of Tax Administrators (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia)
MSATA, Midwestern States Association of Tax Administrators (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin)
WSATA, Western States Association of Tax Administrators (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming)

There are other sorts of information-sharing agreements as well. New Mexico shares information with — and receives information from — three tribal governments. And the Multistate Tax Commission Joint Audit Program for member states “provides obvious economies of scale to the states” and “relieves the taxpayer of the burden on multiple ongoing audits.”

Oklahoma to Base Auditors in Other States

Oklahoma doesn’t currently base auditors in other states. Like Utah, it sends auditors to various out-of-state locations as needed, and between 2014 and 2017, it conducted over 460 audits of remotely based businesses. But a recently enacted law will soon enable the Tax Commission to develop a stronger presence out of state.

HB 1427 authorizes the Oklahoma Tax Commission to create and maintain an Out-of-State Tax Collections Enforcement Division. It enables the Commission to “employ full-time, unclassified, out-of-state tax auditors or full-time-equivalent contracted auditors” to enhance the following:

“Sales and use tax collections related to sales or transactions involving residents of Oklahoma and out-of-state vendors with a nexus to the State of Oklahoma”
“Collections of any other unpaid taxes owed the State of Oklahoma by out-of-state individuals, firms, and corporations”

The Tax Commission may audit any individual or business it believes may owe tax revenue to Oklahoma. The law takes effect November 1, 2017.

How Would Your Business Fare During an Audit?

Get a copy of Avalara's Sales and Use Tax Audits Uncovered report to learn more about audit triggers, how to avoid them, and how to protect your business against unnecessary tax compliance risk.

Permission to reprint or repost given by Avalara. Content previously published at www.avalara.com/blog.

The post When State Auditors Head Out of State appeared first on Rand Group.

In the recorded video below, Ron discusses why we have seen an enormous shift in momentum over the last 6 to 12 months and what the widespread of cloud means for businesses moving forward. Here is a taste of what he has to say in this episode:

"I don't think it's going to happen overnight. The advancements that we've seen in the last few months, from the launch of Dynamics 365 to Oracle's $9 billion acquisition of cloud innovator, NetSuite, is just the end of the beginning. We're still talking about a 10-year journey before all apps, all businesses are so ubiquitous of the business landscape that we don't talk about cloud anymore, it's just the way it's done."

The latest segment was aired on May 27th, 2017 and is sponsored by Texas CEO Magazine.

Missed the radio segment? Watch the full video interview here:

Ron Rand - Rand Group - Texas Business Radio from RREA Media on Vimeo.

About Texas Business Radio

Texas Business Radio is a syndicated radio show that covers news, events, and business happenings all over the great state of Texas. Host Matt Register, entrepreneur and investment banker, and Jay W. Curry, author and entrepreneurial coach, bring you special guests and experts from all over the business community.

This segment aired on KPRC AM950 Houston, NewsRadio KLBJ, 590AM and 99.7FM, News Radio 1200 WOAI San Antonio, NewsRadio 740 KTRH Houston, NewsRadio 1080 KRLD Dallas / Fort Worth, iHeartRadio, KPRC, WOAI, KTRH, and iTunes - On Demand.

The post The Rapid Acceptance of Cloud-Based Technology appeared first on Rand Group.

To determine just how difficult lead handling can be for some organizations, Forbes commissioned a study to gain firsthand experience. The results were astonishing, in 35-65% of the cases, leads were never followed up with by sales, and of the ones that were, it took over 47 hours from inquiry to response.

That’s a lot of opportunities wasted.

How can you ensure you’re not squandering marketing dollars by losing the momentum of your campaigns at the pass off to sales?

In this week’s Technology for Business Success Minute, I touch base on how you can leverage the workflows and processes inherent in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to help maximize your marketing efforts while increasing your sales results:

Technology for Success - How do you know you are capitalizing on your marketing efforts? - Texas Business Radio from RREA Media on Vimeo.

As a firm, Rand Group helps clients improve their overall business performance through the effective use of technology. We can address the challenges you have in managing your pipeline, while simultaneously working to increase it. We can help you gather your requirements and select the right CRM solution for your business needs, and then work with you to ensure your user adoption leads to ultimate success.

To learn more about how CRM can help you better handle your leads, contact our team today.

The post Are You Capitalizing on Your Marketing Efforts? appeared first on Rand Group.

Oftentimes, sales and use tax get left out of this equation, especially when it doesn’t appear to directly correlate to the task at hand. Certain growth activities, like adding new locations, products, or sales channels, instinctively signal a need to alter sales and use tax compliance practices. With others like financing rounds, acquisitions, or technology platform changes, tax implications aren’t as obvious and therefore are more likely to be overlooked. Yet these are often the situations where compliance strategies can have the greatest and most lasting impact.

Below is a brief glimpse of how sales and use tax compliance can come into play for 3 business growth activities that can be life (and tax) changing: financing events, mergers and acquisitions, and technology platform integration projects. Here’s what you should be aware of when going through these processes.

3 Growth Activities with Sales and Use Tax Compliance Considerations:

Financing Events

For any financing event, public or private, investors look closely not only at how you plan to grow the business, but also how you are managing it now. Poor sales tax management practices or unfavorable audit outcomes can impact valuation, jeopardize funding, or even nullify deals. High visibility events like funding rounds and IPOs can also bring your business to the attention of state auditors looking to draw in more tax dollars.

Mergers and Acquisitions

The meshing together of people, assets, systems, and processes is no simple feat. So, it’s not surprising that business integration issues following M&A transactions are one of the biggest things keeping company execs up at night. Between due diligence, integration, accounting/financial reporting, and post-acquisition compliance, who has time for the minutia of sales tax? It can be easy to overlook tax obligations or liabilities, which can raise red flags with investors early in the process, or with auditors later.

Technology Platform Changes, Consolidations or Upgrades

During change events, it’s good practice to evaluate your financial systems and fill any gaps with new solutions or functionality that can advance your growth objectives. For example, tax automation software that unites critical transaction data from disparate systems and processes can alleviate compliance issues during post-merger integrations, reducing audit risk and avoiding delays in closing the books.

Download Avalara's latest whitepaper for further insights from leading industry leaders.

Permission to reprint or repost given by Avalara. Content previously published at www.avalara.com/blog.

The post Growth Activities That Can Be Life (and Tax) Changing appeared first on Rand Group.

NetSuite Release 2017.1 recently started its deployment cycle in April. As it is customary, NetSuite makes available the Release Notes, a very detailed document listing all the new features, or enhancements included in the roll-out. After reviewing this document, we have pulled out the top 5 most valuable features for companies currently using NetSuite, and for companies considering NetSuite.

Top 5 Features in Release 2017.1:

Vendor Dashboard
One of the best kept secrets in NetSuite is the Customer Dashboard. Release 2017.1 includes the much-expected functionality of Vendor Dashboards, allowing Purchasing and AP departments to finally share in this very cool feature. The Vendor Dashboard can be personalized, and includes several portlets. And speaking of the Customer Dashboard, 2017.1 includes improvements to that one as well.

Advanced Intercompany Journal Entries
This is a very valuable enhancement because it can save a lot of time in the long run. Previous to 2017.1, an Intercompany Journal Entry could only have 1 "FROM" subsidiary and 1 "TO" subsidiary, which could be quite limiting if you wanted to allocate costs from 1 subsidiary to multiple other subsidiaries. In that case, you had to do multiple transactions. With this new feature (and new transaction type), you can select 1 FROM subsidiary and multiple TO subsidiaries.

Support for Time-Off Management + Time Rejection Note
These 2 features made the list because they are essential to those of you in the Professional Services industry. Before 2017.1, approved Time-Off was not taken into account when calculating Planned Time Entries. Now, any approved Time-Off is considered when calculating Project Plans. The other feature is Time Rejection Note. You could already Reject Time Entries, but now your employees know why you are doing so, bringing the power of information to your fingertips.

Advanced PDF + Saved Searches
We recently worked with a company who had been using an ERP system that required a developer to create a report. In the demo, we created a Saved Search report on the fly in NetSuite. But up until 2017.1, printing a Saved Search result left a lot to be desired. Now, with the combination of Advanced PDF functionality and Saved Searches, the output of a Saved Search can be customized, and actually presented in a business meeting or to a 3rd party. This was a much needed feature, and many users will be very happy to take advantage of it.

Undelivered Emails Saved Search
Gone are the days of not knowing if an email sent out of NetSuite was delivered. Seems like a small feature but it's important. 2017.1 includes a new Saved Search that helps NetSuite users analyze email deliverability problems. The results show information logged for undelivered email messages and details reasons to help you troubleshoot them.

Get a Complete Overview of Release 2017.1

These highlights are only the tip of the iceberg. For more information on the latest release, we have included a link to watch NetSuite's 2017 Release 1 Overview Tour as well as a link to a 2017.1 sneak peek. You'll get to see what some of the newest features actually look like and learn more about what other great enhancements are being released.

NetSuite 2017.1 Overview Tour

NetSuite 2017.1 Sneak Peek

If you have any questions about these latest features, or if you would like to schedule a release upgrade assessment, contact our NetSuite team today!

The post Top 5 New Features in NetSuite Release 2017.1 appeared first on Rand Group.

Client loyalty comes in many forms, but at the end of the day most clients base their decision to continuing working with your organization on 2 things: attitude and emotion. The feeling they get when they work with you, the manner in which you handle challenges, and how everyone at your organization interacts with them in any given day all play a role. The bottom line is that every client wants to feel important to your business.

While most account executives can answer questions about their clients, such as who they are and what kind of business they are in, few can quickly identify why a certain client continues to do business with you. And that’s the crux of any client retention – if you know why your top clients stay you can identify why others don’t, and actively work to correct those areas by offering new clients the same treatment as your top clients get.

In this week’s Technology for Business Success Minute, I look deeper into client loyalty and identify ways in which you can use a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to better increase yours.

Technology for Success - Are you giving clients a reason to stay loyal? - Texas Business Radio from RREA Media on Vimeo.

Managing your client relationships effectively is a key part of your ongoing business success. At Rand Group, we’re experts in identifying ways to leverage technology to reduce inefficiencies and increase results. Generating new client business is a time consuming and cash heavy exercise and we can help you ensure that every client is a client for life. If you want to talk more about how you can improve client satisfaction and retention through the use of today’s technology, I invite you to speak with me.

The post Are You Giving Your Clients a Reason to Stay Loyal? appeared first on Rand Group.

Read about why Rand Group became a NetSuite partner here.

SuiteWorld in the Eyes of a New Partner

We recently joined the NetSuite Solution Provider Program to broaden our technology profile and meet the growing demand for cloud ERP among midmarket companies. As a new partner, we have hit the ground running and it was a great opportunity to see it all come together at the conference. It was clear to see that NetSuite and Oracle are on an upwards path to growth, expansion, and continuous improvement.

Here are some of our key takeaways from the event as a new NetSuite partner this year.

Going Global with Oracle
There has been some speculation going around about Oracle's strategic acquisition of NetSuite, but luckily, that was squashed at SuiteWorld. Everyone from the event walked away with a renewed belief that Oracle will not only leave NetSuite as a standalone GBU (Global Business Unit), but that it will invest heavily in its further development as a global company. We chose to become a NetSuite solution provider because NetSuite is the clear leader in the cloud ERP midmarket space.
Partners are the Wheel
We all know NetSuite’s traditional wheel: ERP Financials, CRM, Ecommerce and PSA/SCM. The wheel now has two new components: SuitePeople, mentioned above, and BFN, or Built for NetSuite. Built for NetSuite is NetSuite’s framework for developing applications by 3rd Parties, an ecosystem that keeps growing. This will allow all customers to have access to the applications that SDN (Solution Delivery Network) Partners develop to fill the gaps NetSuite has. More than 70% of the NetSuite implementations eventually have a 3rd party system. This will have an important impact on the midmarket because it will give more, and better, access to those applications.

Introducing SuiteSuccess, NetSuite's Industry Solution
SuiteSucess is a new industry offering that combines NetSuite's unified suite with industry leading practices, customer engagement, and business optimization methods. It was highlighted at SuiteWorld to partners because it is a cloud solution tailored to fit a lot of the industries we work in, including manufacturing, wholesale distribution, professional services, etc.
Omnichannel, the Future of Shopping
NetSuite was built with the premise of being an ERP system that includes an E-Commerce platform. They keep investing in the product and are launching SuiteCommerce Standard to help increase the adoption rate of that platform. They are also launching SuiteCommerce InStore, which will allow companies to have full visibility into inventory, from anywhere. For example, let’s say that as a customer you go to a store and they don’t have the item you are looking for in your size. With SuiteCommerce, the store clerk will be able to tell you if another store has it, or if you can order it online. Then you will be able to do either right there on the spot, blurring the line between online and in-store.
Revisiting the "True Suite" Concept
At SuiteWorld this year, NetSuite introduced SuitePeople, a key missing piece to their full suite of products. SuitePeople is a Human Capital Management (HCM) solution that integrates within the Suite, just like CRM and every other NetSuite module. It securely weaves people data throughout your NetSuite solution, giving you complete control over your HR processes.

Find Out More About Our SuiteWorld Experience

Whether you attended or not, reach out to our NetSuite team for more details on what we learned at the event. We would love to share our story and tell you more about some of the latest features announced and how they can influence the success of your business operations.

The post Key Takeaways as a New NetSuite Partner at SuiteWorld 2017 appeared first on Rand Group.

For most companies, the mere idea of a sales tax audit is a daunting prospect, and “fingers crossed we don’t get picked” is a popular strategy. But for certain types of businesses, just doing what you do can be enough to attract the attention of the state auditor. According to state departments of revenue data, certain industries are at a higher risk of being audited simply based on how sales and use tax regulations impact their business. The more complex the rules, the higher the odds that errors or oversights will happen. These mistakes can be costly – both for states that are missing out on tax revenues and the companies that fall short on compliance.

The Audit Process Uncovered
Unless you’ve been through an audit before, you likely have no idea what to expect, never mind why the state is looking at you or why your business has been selected for an audit. Sometimes, companies are chosen at random. But more often, something you are doing (or not doing) in your business has raised the red flag for state auditors.
Sales and Use Tax Audits Uncovered, a new report by Avalara and Peisner and Johnson, aims to set the record straight on why some businesses get audited more than others and the behaviors driving these trends. Analysis compiled from real audit data from two of the four Big Four states, Texas and California, and findings from more than 64,000 audits conducted over a 27-year period went into the writing of the report. Some interesting patterns emerged from this data on the types of companies that tend to get audited, the reasons why they get audited, and what activities make them more vulnerable to an audit.

For example:
60% of audits target only four industries
One-third of audits are now conducted out of state
The two most frequently identified audit errors are improperly managing exempt sales and out-of-state purchases

Lax Tax Practice Are Red Flags
The study found that certain factors, such as audit history and having a high ratio of exempt sales to total sales, led to a higher risk of being audited. While these seem straightforward, other characteristics like industry type are less understood. What exactly is it that puts these businesses in the state auditors’ crosshairs when it comes to tax compliance?

For starters, certain tax practices can put any business at greater risk of audit. According to the California Board of Equalization, the top three most frequently seen problems are:
Not charging tax on out-of-state sales
Recorded versus reported difference in taxes collected and remitted
Not properly documenting tax-exempt sales

Which Industries Are A Target

According to audit data, the industries targeted most by auditors are Retail, Food Service, Manufacturing, Wholesale (/Distribution), and Construction. These were ranked in the top five in both California and Texas. It’s likely that these industries attract attention based on the types of compliance errors auditors uncover when auditing these businesses. For example, sales tax nexus was a common hurdle shared among all five of these industries. Not surprising, given that states have vastly changed the definition and thresholds for nexus beyond the physical presence standards.

Beyond nexus, audit triggers were more specific to the tax complexities experienced by each industry. For example, product taxability can be especially burdensome for retailers, wholesalers, and food services, especially given how differently states tax different products and services. Use tax and exempt sales tends to trip up manufacturers and construction companies. And drop shipping can complicate compliance for distribution companies. These and other audit triggers are covered in more depth in the report, along with audit profiles and outcomes for each of the high-risk industries.

The report also reveals that states are getting more serious about sales tax audits — especially in recouping lost revenues from ecommerce sales — hiring more auditors and focusing greater efforts on audits conducted out of state. What exactly does being caught in non-compliance cost nowadays? According to Wakefield Research, small to mid-size businesses are out approximately $114,000 in taxes, fees and penalties if auditors find problems. It can be nearly four times that amount for larger firms.

Reduce Risk with Sales Tax Automation
While you may not be able to head off a sales tax audit forever, you can make the process far less painful by managing tax compliance more efficiently. This starts with having a clear understanding of your tax obligations and a reliable way to ensure you can comply with them — now and should they change. Tax automation software like Avalara can provide this assurance.

Get your free copy of the Sales and Use Tax Audits Uncovered report to learn more about audit triggers, how to avoid them, and how to protect your business against unnecessary tax compliance risk.

Permission to reprint or repost given by Avalara. Content previously published at www.avalara.com/blog.

The post Risky Business: 5 Industries That Raise Audit Red Flags appeared first on Rand Group.

Clients in similar industries follow related trends, and those trends can help you increase your close rate on new deals while also helping ensure you’re selling to your current clients as much as possible.

In this week’s Technology for Business Success Minute, we explore the world of predictive sales through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and help you uncover more revenue than ever before. By using the rich analytical capabilities inherent in CRM, you can not only identify patterns of behavior, such as the seasonality of goods, but you can quickly and easily identify opportunities to cross sell and upsell to your current clients.

Technology for Success- Are You Maximizing Sales Opportunities? - Texas Business Radio from RREA Media on Vimeo.

The ability to engage in predictive sales is one of my favorite parts of utilizing a CRM solution. It helps drive revenues for you through increased sales numbers, but it also helps solidify your organization as a business that cares about their customers. By utilizing the data, you can improve the perception of your organization, leading to a more regular sales cycle and no more missed opportunities.

At Rand Group, we’re experts in using technology to impact business success. Contact us if if you would like to learn more about predictive sales options within CRM. We can help you maximize every opportunity in every interaction.

The post Are You Maximizing Sales Opportunities? appeared first on Rand Group.

Following a few best practices can help you avoid costly penalties and fines. Join sales tax compliance and tax technology expert John Sallese as he explains:
Which part of the returns process is the biggest area of tax risk
How to identify whether your business has “nexus’ and should file in multiple states
The most common remittance errors
What typically happens when you fail to register

This is one event you can’t afford to miss!

Register today for the webinar 6 Most Common Sales Tax Return and Filing Errors.

Join us!
Date: Wednesday, March 22
Time: 1:00 p.m. Central
Register today!

The post 6 Most Common Sales Tax Return and Filing Errors – TLS Webinar appeared first on Rand Group.