Is Nexus Necessary for State Taxes? Not According to These States!
Two states, Louisiana and Alabama, recently passed legislation allowing them to tax companies making sales in the state via the Internet, even if the business doesn’t have a physical presence, or nexus. What do these laws entail, and how do they affect companies?
Louisiana’s Amazon Law
Referred to as the "Amazon Law," Louisiana's Act 22 allows the state to tax companies that don't have nexus within the state.
As the Pelican Post explains, "Act 22 requires out-of-state retailers with in-state contract affiliates – individuals or businesses that refer potential customers to the seller – typically by linking to their website – to remit taxes on sales made to Louisianans." Basically, this means the state is expanding the definition of nexus from being defined as an Internet link instead of a physical presence.
Alabama’s New Nexus Regulation
Alabama recently adopted a new regulation as well, which defines nexus within the state as exceeding $250,000 in retail sales of tangible personal property and certain additional activities, such as soliciting orders for tangible personal property through advertising.Read more
Rainmaking – Kicking off the next webinar series
I’m excited to report that we are once again preparing to deliver the “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking” webinar series, beginning May 4. If you’ve been following this blog and my communications, you know that the series is designed for professionals selling services. It focuses on how to develop the skills to keep your pipeline filled and how to generate revenue. I had initially planned on focusing mostly on CPAs and bookkeepers, but have had seminar participants from law firms, financial planning firms, and even administrative services. And all kinds of service professionals are asking if they can participate. Sure!
Why Are We Doing This Now?
Just to be clear, you’re probably thinking – “Wait, doesn’t Monika specialize in multi-state tax consulting?” Yes, I do! But I needed to develop a system that worked for me to build my business (which just celebrated its 14 year anniversary, by the way). As I’ve built a system over the years that has helped me to sell professional services, it occurred to me that it’s teachable and scale-able. And in addition to having passion for helping clients navigate state tax issues, I also have passion for helping people understand how to build businesses and generate revenue. Why? Well, I’m an entrepreneur – and it’s nice to help others grow. I’ve had a lot of help over the years, and I want to pay it forward as well.
So, here are those rainmaking skills and the passion behind them, developed into a short, easy to manage Rainmaker webinar series for accounting and finance professionals so that they may also benefit from my “accountant’s approach to rainmaking” and apply it to their practices. Why now? Because people needed this 20 years ago. I needed it 20 years ago. And it wasn’t available. I’m making it available…as soon as possible.
Why should you be excited?
The rainmaking process (revenue production and increased marketing exposure) is an integral part of your business and we can help you take it to the next level.
What Will You Learn?
The 3 part webinar series includes segments on all of the following:
- Defining your target market so you can stop wasting time chasing the wrong leads
- Creating your own unique strategies to reach potential clients
- An interactive step by step process to achieve your goals
- Working copies of templates and checklists to create your plan for 2016 and keep yourself accountable.
You’ll also learn how to develop your sales mindset, specifically identify your perfect target client, how to use direct and indirect marketing skills to get in front of the right people, and a proven plan to keep yourself on track.
Logistics
Here are the details of the webinar, along with a special invitation to join us for “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking”.
When? May 4, 11 and 18, 2016 at 2:00pm PST/5:00pm EST. Each part of the series will be one hour in length, plus 15 minutes for interactive Q&A.
Can’t make all these sessions? No problem, we will record them and they’ll be available for you to review at your leisure.
I hope you’ll take the time to check this out and ultimately join us! The inaugural series in January was a great kickoff – and this one will be even better!
Happy Rainmaking!
Monika Miles is President of Miles Consulting Group, a firm specializing in multi-state tax consulting for middle market businesses. Clients include technology, manufacturing, software and SaaS based companies doing businesses across state lines. Miles Consulting Group assist them in determining the sales tax and income tax ramifications of creating a taxable presence in a state and how to address these issues with the various states. When she’s not assisting clients with multi-state tax issues, she passionately shares Rainmaker strategies with other professional services firms.
14 Years in the Making
Happy Anniversary Miles Consulting Group! In fourteen years, I’ve watched this practice change with this times – gone are the California Manufacturers Investment Credit and the Enterprise Zone benefits – both of which were significant tax credit and incentives benefits to our clients over the years. Added are some new California incentives – the CA Partial Manufacturer’s Sales Tax Exemption, and the California Competes Tax Credit. Yet tried and true multi-state tax consulting – nexus reviews, taxability studies, voluntary disclosures, and audit defense continue to be the cornerstone of our current consulting. We’ve also recently added “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking” that’s been providing some “splash”! The webinar series, aimed at helping CPAs (and others selling professional services) to enhance their marketing, networking and targeting skills begins again in May. (For more information and to register, click here.)
A lot has changed over the years that has affected not only our business, but our country. Take a trip back in time to see what was happening back in 2002 when we were founded:
In 2002...Read more
[State Tax Series] The BioTech and Pharmaceutical Industry & Multi-State Tax Issues
So far our State Tax Series has looked at technology niches including semiconductor manufacturing, digital goods, software companies and medical device companies. Today we look at the multi-state tax issues that the BioTech and Pharmaceutical niche faces. Keep reading for the details!
An Overview of the BioTech and Pharmaceutical Industry
BioTech companies specialize in researching ways to duplicate or change living cells in an effort to make them more predictable and controlled. They rely on genetics research to create products to help improve quality of life or cure those with a variety of diseases and conditions. The top BioTech companies currently include Emergent Biosolutions Inc, Amgen Inc, Abbvie Inc and Immucell Corp.
Pharma companies specialize in drugs. They extensively research them in-house in addition to licensing them from academia, other firms and biotech companies. Examples of these companies include Pfizer, Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Bayer.Read more
Focus on Alabama
Alabama received its nicknames “The Heart of Dixie,” and “Yellowhammer” state from its historical civil war involvement. The State has come a long way from its troubled past to be a state in the forefront of innovation. In our focus of the month, we highlight the current contributions of the State to our community. Alabama has not only given us dynasty in college football (for those Crimson Tide fans), but it also has given as a foundation for a steady economic presence internationally.
Business Climate
Alabama’s economic growth is a result of its development as a manufacturing hub for transportation and technology. The State has managed to attract automotive companies such as Mercedez-Benz, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda. These four companies alone, produced more than 1 million vehicles (valued at $7 billion) in Alabama in 2015. These vehicles are the State’s main exports delivered to over 70 countries.
In addition, Alabama is also thriving in the aerospace industry. It is the home for major manufacturers of commercial flight airplanes such as Airbus and Boeing. Other companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin develop aerospace and defense technology which aid our military. Read more
Rainmaking – Follow-Thru Strategies, Part 2 (How To...)
Our last Rainmaking blog discussed the importance of following up with people after a successful initial meeting. I suggested that after a networking event, once business cards are exchanged and it has been agreed that we like each other enough to follow up – we should, indeed, follow-up within 48 hours. Interestingly, I gave a presentation on “Jumpstart Your Rainmaking” just last week and someone asked me when it’s too long after the event to follow up. Truly, it’s never REALLY too late if you want to ultimately try to reach someone who you met at a networking event. But the practicality is that we’re all human. We want to feel important. (If you reach out to me within 48 hours, I feel important!) And we all have a lot on our plates AND we go to a lot of networking events. (If you reach out to me within 48 hours, I’m much more likely to remember you and what you do, and why I found you interesting in the first place!)
So, if we agree that follow-thru within 48 hours is important, how do we do it? And, perhaps more importantly, how do we do it even if we’re really busy and we know that we don’t really have time to meet with the person right now?
Here are some of my tips:
The Email
We all get a lot of email, but it is still the quickest and easiest way to reach out to someone. It can be just a few lines, and it can quickly reference that you enjoyed meeting the person, and would like to see about scheduling lunch in six to eight weeks. True, it’s a little far out there, but at least then you can get something on your calendar. (Remember to suggest some specific dates that work for you in order to get the planning going. Don’t leave it an ambiguous “let’s try sometime in June”.) A nice touch is to add some additional piece of information that lets the person know you remembered something from the conversation. Perhaps they asked for a link to a website you mentioned. Or you discussed a specific technical area that you just wrote a blog about. Link and attach! It doesn’t take much time to do that, you’re re-purposing something you’ve already written, and you are now more likely to be viewed as an expert.Read more
[State Tax Series] Semiconductor Manufacturing & Multi-State Tax Issues
Welcome to the latest post in our series about how state tax legislation affects various technology industry niches! Today our focus is on semiconductor manufacturing. What multi-state tax issues do they face? Keep reading to find out.
An Overview of Manufacturers
Semiconductor manufacturing is the process of creating, "A substance, as silicon or germanium, with electrical conductivity intermediate between that of an insulator and a conductor: a basic component of various kinds of electronic circuit element (semiconductor device) used in communications, control, and detection technology and in computers."Read more
Qui Tam and Tax Whistleblowers
In today’s society, one of the biggest concerns that every business or individual wants to avoid are lawsuits. Under the False Claims Act (FCA), there is a liability to businesses or individuals who commit fraudulent behavior that impact governmental programs. Most cases resulting from the FCA are in regards to health care, housing and mortgage frauds.
Unfortunately for businesses, there is a higher risk of involvement in a lawsuit due to the Qui Tam provisions of the FCA. The Qui Tam provisions allows informants or “whistle blowers” to bring forth a lawsuit against the business or individual on behalf of the government. Qualified informants must be directly involved and knowledgeable of the fraudulent behavior conducted and must not be from a secondary source. The incentive for informants to come forward is that they will receive a portion of the funds recovered from a successful settlement or judgment (generally 15 to 30 percent of the recovery).
There has been an increasing popularity in Qui Tam cases since 2009. Prior to 2009, Qui Tam cases averaged 300-400 cases per year. For years after 2009, the average rose to more than 600 new Qui Tam cases per year, with 2013 and 2014 exceeding 700. Read more
Rainmaking: Follow-Thru Strategies, Part I
Several months ago in this blog series, I talked about direct and indirect marketing strategies involved in the Rainmaking process. Direct strategies are those in which you purposefully put yourself either in the room with someone (a meeting, lunch, coffee, etc.) or on the phone (a prospect call, etc.) Direct strategies also include public speaking, presenting technical information live or via webinars. Indirect strategies are those where people can find out about you at their leisure. It is often via your on-line persona – your company website or bio page, blogging, social media, etc. It’s important that the messages between your direct and indirect strategies are consistent. The third prong of the marketing strategies (and perhaps the most important) is the follow-thru.
Why the Follow Thru?
Entire books have been dedicated to this topic. Why? Because it is an area in which so many people fail. They do well in identifying their target market. They determine where to find them and even put themselves in the room with the “right” people. They have great conversations at networking group meetings. Or great conversations with prospects. They collect business cards from the “right” people. They even go so far as to agree to follow up with another meeting. And then what? They go back to the office the next day and don’t do the follow up. They get busy. They answer emails and voicemails. A client project looms and must be completed by noon. An employee comes in with an issue. Or worse – calls in sick! They are, of course, all very legitimate things. And they can easily derail all the good work that was done in the past 48 hours.
Just Do It.
So, how do we commit to the follow up and do a better job? My recommendation is to schedule time to do it, and add it to the “to do” list. If you include follow up on your calendar you are much more likely to get it done. Schedule just 30 minutes. The trick is to schedule that follow up time at the same time you schedule the original networking event. If you have a standing “2nd Thursday” networking event once a month that automatically populates in your calendar, schedule a related follow up time slot for that event for every second Friday. Once the placeholder is on your calendar, you are less likely to schedule something else into it. And make sure you do the follow up within a reasonable timeframe. What is reasonable? In my opinion, 24 - 48 hours. You may be thinking: Why can’t you follow up within a week? Well, it’s better than not following up at all. But the longer you wait the less likely you actually will, and the less likely the person with whom you are following up will want to interact. If it took you a week to get back to them, they know where they fall in the list of importance. Conversely, if you follow up within 24 hours, the person will feel like you really connected and be more apt to reconnect back with you. Think about it - how does it make you feel when someone connects with you right away?
Stay tuned to our next blog – still on this topic – but more directed at HOW to follow up and some great examples you can use to initiate that follow-up discussion.
[State Tax Series] Digital Goods & Multi-State Tax Issues
Welcome back to our series about how state tax legislation applies to a wide variety of technology industry niches! Today’s focus is digital goods; keep reading to find out what multi-state tax issues this type of merchandise faces when it comes to nexus, state tax legislation, etc.
An Overview of Digital Goods
What are digital goods? Webopedia provides a helpful definition: "Digital goods is a general term used to describe any goods that are stored, delivered and used in an electronic format. Digital goods are shipped electronically to the consumer through e-mail or download from the Internet. Usually when you purchase digital goods online, after payment has been received the merchant will provide you with your digital item as an e-mail attachment or they may provide you with a secure link where you can download the item.
Examples of digital goods include e-books, music files, software, digital images, website templates, manuals in electronic format and any item that can be electronically stored in a file or multiple files."Read more
