Georgia Sales Tax Audits Defense Lawyers
If you are undergoing a Georgia sales tax audit, you might be wondering what your options are if you do not have all of your books and records ready for the audit.
Many of our retail store owners complain of being overburdened by not having all of their books and records for goods purchased from other retailers. For example, a convenience store owner might find cheaper products from Amazon, Wal-Mart, or another retailer. When they are being audited for sales tax, they will have to produce these receipts to prove that sales tax was paid on these items. The logical reason for not keeping receipts from items purchased from these retailers is that they always charge sales tax. When have you ever been to Wal-Mart and not paid sales tax. The only time somebody is exempt from paying sales tax is if they are using an EBT card provided by the USDA in lieu of traditional food stamps.
Keeping this in mind, the auditor will always ask for receipts. Now, assume you are on the second stage of the sales tax audit. This means that they are now looking at consumables. Consumables are those supplies that you use in your own place of business. Again, the Wal-Mart purchased products that are always taxed need to be proven in the sales tax audit. At the very least you need to have paid a use tax. Now, let’s complicate this scenario another step. Assume that you had originally purchased an item from any wholesaler with your sales-tax exemption license. Then, instead of reselling the item, you ended up using it in your own business. That calls for use tax to be paid on the item.
The complications of books and records are tremendous. However, even if you have all of your books and records, the auditor will only sample 6 out of the 36 months that you provide them. Call our office to discuss your audit and how we can help bridge the gap.
Georgia Sales Tax Audits