If your convenience store or restaurant is facing a New York State sales tax audit, don’t go it alone. MEDOWS CPA is experienced in helping cash-based business owners correctly report and file their New York sales taxes. Our NYC CPAs have the in-depth expertise you need to represent you during a sales tax audit in the State of New York. Our NYC CPA firm will help you simplify and prepare your New York sales tax reporting and documentation while giving you peace of mind that you have expert counsel representing your business in the case of an NYC Sales Tax Audit. Contact us now.
Our NYC CPAs have deep experience helping New York State convenience stores, bodegas and other cash-based businesses understand and successfully navigate the often ambiguous sales tax rules which are often the source of incorrect sales tax reporting. Incorrect sales tax reporting, in addition to other factors such as the geographic location of your business or the amount of cash sales you process, can raise a red flag to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF), which has recently increased its scrutiny of sales tax activity for convenience stores and bodegas.
If you are a convenience store, restaurant or cash-based business owner in New York City who has received a sales tax audit notice, keep calm—and call the sales tax audit team at MEDOWS CPA for help.
Contact Our NYS and NYC Sales Tax Audit Experts—Relieve the Hassle and Reduce Financial Risk of Sales Tax Audits
You may feel panicked when you initially receive a sales tax audit notice, but rest assured, our NYC CPAs have helped hundreds of business owners just like you with sales tax audits. Know that it is likely that NYSDTF will try to prove that you owe additional taxes. That’s why you need the professional help pf our experienced team. Don’t try to go a sales tax audit on your convenience store or bodega alone. Navigating the complex nature of New York State’s sales tax schedules and laws requires expert help. Here’s why:
- Sales tax audits are usually very intimidating and time-consuming. Imagine having to assimilate and provide the required proof that the amount reported on your sales tax returns was the total amount of revenues received by your business over a period of several years. Essentially, this is what a sales tax audit requires.
Keep in mind that you have to justify not only the taxable portion of your sales, but the total taxable and non-taxable sales of your convenience store or bodega business as well. This means you will need all of the cash register receipts, invoices, vendor receipts and sales journals to back you up—this may often require you to document the amounts reported on your sales tax for a several years. This can be both time-consuming and overwhelming.
- NYSDTF does not give you benefit of the doubt. As a convenience store or bodega owner, it’s your job to prove that your sales tax returns are correct. If you cannot, New York State will operate from the position that you are not reporting all of your income and will likely conduct sales tax audit.
- Sales tax audits grow in scope quickly. In addition to all of the internal records you must gather as part of your sales tax audit, you may also be subject to a cost of goods sold audit which will involve your suppliers providing NYSDTF with the amount of money that you have paid them for merchandise for each year of your operations which is being audited. As a business owner, you do not have time or the expertise to get mired down in all of the sales tax audit detail and vendor requests…our team will support you so that you can focus on operating your business, instead of working one-on-one with the NYSDTF.
- Sales tax audits and penalties can be very costly. In a sales tax audit, the business owner is at a distinct disadvantage…especially if they have not kept meticulous sales records. For example, when incomplete records are involved, New York State will utilize their findings from a cost of goods audit to reconstruct a sales figure, usually high, because the NYSDTF generally does not make deductions for discounts, damaged inventory, or theft. As such, if you cannot meet the reporting requirements to satisfy sales tax auditors’ requests, the auditors will use the reconstructed sales figure and compare it to the sales tax returns that were filed. If there is a shortfall, you are on the hook for taxes, interest, and penalties that apply to your underpayment—calculated by the NYSDTF.
As you can see, a convenience store or bodega owner needs specialized advice in regard to sales tax audits. MEDOWS CPA’s NYC CPAs can provide representation, negotiating on behalf of your convenience store or bodega to reduce taxes owed, fines and penalties. If you have received a sales tax audit notice, please contact us today and relieve yourself of the stress, hassle and potentially devastating financial consequences of a sales tax audit.