Bellatoris Consulting, LLC

Archive for March, 2012|Monthly archive page

, , ,

Tired of Eating Lunch at Your Desk?

In CPE, IPT on March 27, 2012 at 11:14 AM

Mangiamo! (That’s Italian for “Let’s Eat”)

Here are the appetizers:

  1. Calamari Fritte: Crispy calamari served with marinara sauce.
  2. Tomato Caprese: Sliced tomatoes topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, and a balsamic glaze.
  3. Caesar Salad: A traditional Caesar salad featuring imported Parmesan shavings and home-made croutons.

Here are the entrees:

  1. Chicken Piccata: Chicken breasts sautéed with capers and lemon butter and served on a bed of sautéed spinach.
  2. Balsamic-Glazed Salmon: Cedar-baked salmon topped with a balsamic glaze and olive tapenade.
  3. Four-Cheese Ravioli: Ravioli stuffed with ricotta, cream cheese, mozzarella, and provolone; served in a pesto alfredo cream sauce with a touch of marinara.

Here are the desserts:

  1. Apple Crostada: Granny Smith apples baked in a pastry crust and dipped in cream and crystallized sugar; served with caramel sauce and vanilla bean ice cream.
  2. Tiramisu: Ladyfinger cookies soaked in espresso and coffee liqueur, layered with mascarpone, dusted with cocoa powder, and served with chocolate shavings.

By the way, this isn’t one of those “choose one” deals – you get the entire menu above served family style.

So, what’s this all about?  It’s time to announce our next quarterly luncheon for the DC Metro Area Institute for Professionals in Taxation.  For $60.00 ($65.00 if you’re not yet a member of IPT), you’ll get one hour of continuing professional eduction and that awesome lunch listed above.

When is it?

April 24, 2012 at Noon

Where will it be?

Maggiano’s Little Italy in McLean, VA (click here for directions)

How can I sign up?

Our online registration can be found at: www.dcma-ipt.org

What will be the topic of the continuing education?

Karen Syrylo, Tax Consultant for the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, will be outlining the numerous legislative proposals under consideration by the Maryland legislature that may result in significant tax changes.

In order to be kind to the chefs preparing this awesome meal for us, we need to have your registration by April 20th.  If you should have any questions, please e-mail me at: derek.s.hoffman@bellatorisconsulting.com.

I hope to see you there!

Nosy Neighbors

In Audits, Bankruptcy, Compliance on March 21, 2012 at 4:10 PM

 

I’ve yet to meet someone that says, “I’m really impressed with how my homeowner’s association is run.”

To be fair, governance by committee is always difficult.  Political battles are inevitable as long as each member of the committee has personal interests they’re trying to protect.

A few years back, my HOA mailed me the results of their annual property inspection.  (This was the dreaded letter that detailed the repairs they wanted me to make to my house.)

The letter stated that the front of my house was painted with an unapproved color.  The problem with that: my house is faced with unpainted brick.

I reached out to the president of the HOA and told him about the mistake.  His response?  “Not my problem.  I’m not on the inspection committee.”

Since I keep this blog “G” rated, I’ll paraphrase the response I gave him!

I reminded him that this WAS his problem since he was the president of the HOA.  Even if he wanted the inspection committee to fix the problem, he should’ve at least gotten me in touch with the people that could’ve resolved the matter.

Have you ever seen something like this at work?

I recall seeing many cases where senior-level managers turned a blind eye to problems because they felt the matters were someone else’s responsibility.

As you can probably guess, this happens regularly with sales tax issues!

While the old adage, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes” may be true, the latter has never brought upon the former.

Reaching out to someone in your organization who many be responsible for a sales tax compliance problem won’t be the demise of the company.  However, if you wait for a taxing authority to discover that problem, it could very well trigger the demise of your company (see here).

If you don’t have the time to take care of the occasional sales tax uncertainty that pops up, I’m only a phone call away!

 

, , , ,

Are You Paying Too Much Tax When You Buy a Car?

In Refunds on March 12, 2012 at 11:46 PM

 

I bumped into a friend of mine the other day and he had some great news to share.

 

“Derek, I finally decided it was time for a new car!”

 

He knew that I was a hardcore car dude, so he was shocked when I responded by saying, “Oh no!!  Did you buy it already??”

 

I quickly retreated and apologized for my knee-jerk reaction.  I was genuinely happy for this guy because his car was almost 20 years old and falling apart; but the tax nerd inside of me spoke out of turn.

 

I explained my rudeness by saying that I knew of a way to save on his tax bill and I was worried that he missed the opportunity.

 

(In Virginia, car dealers are allowed to pass through their business license taxes to customers….but few customers know that they’re allowed to decline the charge.)

 

My friend isn’t a tax nerd like me, so he had no clue how this worked when he bought his car.  To him, it was just another line-item cost that was set in stone.

 

Many organizations operate this way when it comes to sales tax – they assume that it’s set in stone.

 

Just because a vendor charges sales tax doesn’t always mean that they’ve done it correctly.  Here are a few examples of where they can go wrong:

 

  1. Charging sales tax on products or services that aren’t subject to sales tax.
  2. Charging State A’s sales tax on products that are sent to State B.
  3. Charging the wrong rate of sales tax.

 

These are just a few examples, but you’d be surprised at how often vendor invoices include the wrong amount of sales tax.

 

How often does your company scope out potential sales tax refund opportunities?  (Most companies do it about as often as my friend replaces his cars!)

 

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

%d bloggers like this: