Brotman Law

The Car Dealer’s Guide To CA Sales & Use Tax Audits – Part 1

by

Ask anyone who has ever owned a dealership and they will tell you that the car business is a tough one. With all the moving pieces that a dealership faces on a day in and day out basis though, one risk that often gets overlooked by owners is the risk that they face in a sales tax audit.

Most of the “mistakes” that we see in the context of audit preparation are benign. Things like not separating shipping charges properly, people not accounting for time and material costs, things being billed individually, or a failure to adjust sales tax rates for the proper district are little and seemingly harmless mistakes in the context of your business operations. But they will trigger an audit.

Read more

The History of Nexus Rules and Case Law

by

In this article, we have included some legal cases that set the precedent for current multi-state sales tax laws. Included among them is the historic Wayfair case that broke ground in the area of e-Commerce.

Hopefully, this background will put some of the present law into context. But as always, as the business climate continues to shift and change, so will the laws associated with multi-state taxation.

Read more

Bankruptcy and Automatic Stay

by

According to United States bankruptcy law, an automatic stay is defined as an automatic injunction, the purpose of which halts the actions of creditors to collect debts from a debtor who has filed for bankruptcy relief.

Provisions for automatic stay fall under section 362 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which suggests that the stay begins automatically when the debtor files a petition with the bankruptcy court.

Although a stay is automatic, secured creditors may file a petition with the bankruptcy court for relief against the automatic stay if they can show cause.

Read more

International Tax Compliance

by

For a wide variety of reasons, many Americans have assets in foreign countries.

Some have left established businesses and homes, fleeing persecution in their country of origin.

There are those who have fled war-torn regions of the world and left their assets in tax havens; or maintain foreign financial accounts to support family abroad.

Other individuals with immigrant roots may have inherited from a relative in the old country who passed away and left them a sum of money abroad.

Read more

California Payroll Tax Audits and Defending Independent Contractors

by

You may be familiar with or have heard of a twelve-factor test or a three-factor test or a lot of different tests that the EDD supposedly uses to classify independent contractors.

Through my years of professional experience and time spent in a lot of California payroll tax audits, I will just tell you that a lot of this stuff is bogus.

Audits of independent contractors essentially come down to two things:

  1. revenue generation, and
  2. control.

Read more

IRS Offer in Compromise: What to Do When They Are Rejected – Part One

by

IRS Offer in Compromise Appeals – Introduction

As a refresher to the reader, an IRS offer in compromise is a tax settlement with the IRS where the taxpayer agrees to pay a specified sum and the IRS agrees to compromise on the remaining liability.

Many people have seen the various national tax agencies on daytime television offering to settle your tax debt for pennies on the dollar. However, what is left out of their sales pitch is that nearly eighty percent of IRS offer in compromises are rejected for a variety of reasons. This is not entirely a bad thing, but requires some strategic planning on the part of the taxpayer.

Read more

The Differences Between the Federal System and the State of California

by

As a small business owner, you are used to dealing with the IRS and the state. You file income taxes with the IRS every year and file returns with the state when they are due. Paying tax is paying tax, right? So, why is there such a difference between the way the IRS plays versus the state?

Read more

Brotman Law Featured in Inc. Magazine - Fastest Growing Law Firm in California