State and Local Tax 360˚

"What do you do?" is a common question you often receive, but how do you answer it? I know there have been countless articles on "elevator speeches," etc. But how do you explain what you do to people who are not familiar with your field so they can actually understand what it is you do?

I was talking to a CFO the other day, and it made me think of the following:

Does your company or client operate its business within a simple organizational or entity structure?  Does it operate all of its business activities through one entity or several entities? 

Whether or not your company or client should operate its business through one entity or several entities depends on several factors, such as:

1. Does the company have more than one business line, product or service?

Life is full of man-made rules, regulations, boundaries or what I like to call "boxes." Sometimes these boxes are helpful, in that they keep things together and keep external forces from contaminating what is inside the box, keeping people safe, organized and on-track. In other cases, the boxes serve as limiting factors, keeping things and people from reaching new bounds, creating and achieving success.

Throughout my career I have faced several instances where states have made audit assessments or taken positions under audit that contradict the position the state has taken in the past when it has audited the company.  This change in position by the state has occurred even when there has been NO CHANGE in the state's statutes, rulings and court cases since the last audit.

It's that time of year again - Tax Provision Time. Yeah!!!

Is your company currently calculating it's 2011 tax provision?  If so, how is your state income tax provision going?  Did you calculate your effective state tax rate?  Did you take into account your company's significant state tax addback and deductions?  How about changes in apportionment?  Law changes?  Rate changes?