Navigating Use Tax: Industry insights for smarter compliance
You collected sales tax. You paid the vendor invoice. You filed your sales and use tax returns. But are you sure you’re compliant?
Kristin Alexander
I use the power of words to help brands like Avalara and Palo Alto Networks share, sell, and soar. Applying years of experience in marketing, strategic communications, and journalism, I write engaging, on-point content that delivers results.
kristinalexander.com
Technology
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Top tips for accounting firms: How to determine property taxability
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I wrote the sections on beverage alcohol, communications, and excise (energy, fuel, tobacco, and vape) for Avalara's flagship annual report.
A step-by-step example for determining the value of your personal property
Businesses often pay more personal property tax than required because they don’t have a firm grasp on how to value their property. And a lack of understanding can lead businesses to accepting assessments at face value instead of comparing them to their own valuations and deciding whether to appeal.
Understanding business property tax discounts and penalties
Property tax compliance requires managing a slew of paperwork, including returns, assessment notices, and bills with varying due dates. Many businesses lose track of deadlines or misplace important documents and end up paying more property tax than they would have if they’d paid on time.
How product taxability and classification fit into your tax compliance automation strategy
Product taxability is perplexing. Sales and use tax rules aren’t consistent across jurisdictions or even within categories.
The future of AI in finance and tax compliance
Finance and tax professionals are under increased pressure to operate more efficiently while remaining strategic business advisors. The growing importance of their ability to shape the overall direction and success of their organizations is demonstrated by how companies worldwide are investing in technology to improve how finance and tax teams perform their jobs.
How does implementing an automated property tax solution transform daily operations?
Property tax in the United States traces its roots to colonial times. Surprisingly, many aspects of property tax compliance seem frozen in time — evidenced by numerous county assessors still requiring businesses to submit property tax returns via traditional mail, a practice reminiscent of Benjamin Franklin’s tenure as the first U.S. postmaster general in 1775.
The risks and challenges of navigating regulated business licenses
Convenience store operators cater to customers with many needs, including travelers filling up their gas tanks, hopeful lottery winners, and neighborhood residents with midnight munchies. Ensuring everyone gets what they came for is more complicated than stocking shelves with a bit of everything. Selling a variety of products, especially heavily regulated ones like alcohol and tobacco, makes business license management complex.
Moving to the head of the class with the Palo Alto Networks security platform
Los Rios Community College District partnered with Palo Alto Networks to transform its network, empowering it to provide quality education with modern infrastructure to protect users and valuable data.
Build a world-class finance function with tax compliance automation
Automation is a necessity for growing your business in today’s world and is vital for informed decision-making, collaboration, and agility. That was the key takeaway from a panel of finance, technology, and tax compliance experts who presented at a recent symposium hosted by CFO Magazine in Sydney, Australia.
How to implement property tax compliance automation
For a long time, businesses had limited options for managing property tax compliance. They could handle it manually — calling on in-house tax and finance managers up to their furrowed brows in spreadsheets or relying on outdated technology solutions — or outsource to accounting or specialized consulting firms. Then came advanced property tax compliance automation, offering an alternative that can save businesses time and money.
American Food & Vending scales quickly with Prisma SASE
For American Food & Vending, providing excellent—and secure—customer experiences is of paramount importance. Some of its customers are in the defense space and expect American Food & Vending to have security measures in place that are as rigid as their industry’s. The company turned to Palo Alto Networks to help it better manage and protect its network, customers, and employees while supporting ambitious growth plans.
Drop grows and powers international ecommerce in style with Avalara
Drop builds and manages ecommerce platforms for some of the fashion industry’s biggest brands and a well-known motorcycle manufacturer. Located in Montegranaro, Italy, the company has been helping retailers sell for 20 years. Its customers’ products are shipped to buyers in Australia, Canada, U.S., U.K., and Singapore.
Strategic tax administration: How governments can improve compliance and maximize efficiency
States, local governments, and businesses suffer when companies fail to comply with tax regulations.
Personal property tax can be more mind-boggling in these states
Great literature is full of head-scratchers. Some questions are tough to answer: the Sphinx’s riddle in Oedipus Rex, the lead casket that contains Portia’s picture in The Merchant of Venice, Gollum’s brainteasers in The Hobbit. Property tax compliance can be just as puzzling, and getting it right in some states can be more complex than in others. This blog post sheds light on what makes personal property tax compliance in certain states particularly tricky.
Know Your Nexus
Getting sales tax compliance right is important. The first step is understanding where your business has nexus, or where you need to collect and remit sales and use tax. Nexus is ever-changing and it can be confusing for even savvy professionals.
Property tax and licensing compliance for mergers and acquisitions
According to Gartner, in 2024, the success of enterprises entering into mergers and acquisitions (M&A) depends partly on their ability to navigate “an increasingly complex regulatory environment.” While Gartner points to anti-competition and national security as significant concerns and subjects of scrutiny, companies must also consider how M&A activity can make property tax compliance and licensing more complex.
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