Comments on: BOE taxation crimes

By: If I were Braver

If I were Braver — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:55:55 +0000

Ours is going horribly. First there are the calls. The auditor has “failed” 50% of our resale certificates. Resale certs are filled out by the customer and sent in, so essentially half of the companies we do business with in CA do not have the skill to fill one of these out. Having been in business since the early 70′s the resale forms have changed, but ancient evils such as a description of goods being purchased not being to the auditor’s liking are suddenly creating a taxable customer. What’s worse is the scope. The auditor has tens of thousands of samples chosen, so as we clear one, if she forgets to clear the others, it’s on us to follow up. Then there’s the pure evil, in the reconciliation of what is owed vs what is paid, she’s citing timing differences created by credit memos as non-compliance. If it appears an underpayment has been made, she wants payment and penalties. If an overpayment was made, we don’t even get credit for the amount paid. Purchase orders that have “Sales Tax: No” and not being accepted. I’ve been through many state tax audits before, but nothing remotely like this. After escalation proved fruitless I told them I wanted an estimate of how much to get them out of here. They came back with $2.2 Million. When I asked how on Earth they had arrived at such a ridiculous figure, the auditor backed away from it and said her boss made her take all sample selections that hadn’t been cleared on her sheet (that I never get to see) and extrapolate it across the population.

So we trudged on. I’ve lost two staff over this and a third is ready to go if she has to work with this group anymore. It falls to me. Sending up Resale certs and sending out ABC letters. As more came into place, they got antsy and now are trying to cap the time. I got an e-mail today saying they want all responses by tomorrow. Seriously?!?

It’s not that we didn’t follow the law, it’s just I can’t shovel the proof that I’m not guilty at these horrible people fast enough. I want to build things and make things better, not keep digging up old documents and constantly correcting their calculation mistakes.

I’m scared as to what I’ll do. They’ve been harrassing our staff for over a year. I can’t make them go away. I feel I owe about $10-15K. I’d pay $200K for them to leave and will immediately begin throwing those efforts into a state of the art document retention system and any customer that doesn’t nail it to the 9′s can shop elsewhere or pay tax. But $2.2M…it’s just not sensible. To prorate each item I haven’t proven myself not guilty of in a way that crazy lady will accept… I’ve gotten so tired and sick as of late. Lord, help me, these devils tear at my soul, begging me to commit sin.

To any entrepreneur that’s considering their start-up location. Don’t do it here if you have tangible property to sell. You will regret it. Start your business somewhere else. See all the manufacturing fleeing CA? This is why. You can’t fight this. It will destroy you. Engineer it here and ship it somewhere else to be produced.

By: cookie65

cookie65 — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 12:44:31 +0000

Adam, let me help you out with a simple fact that you have obviously never learned. There are two catagories of people, those who are contributors “to” the tax system and those who are consumers “from” the tax system. In California 37% are contributors and 63% are consumers. For example, public sector emoployees are tax consumers not tax producers. Regardless of what kind of tax or how it is paid. What ever money they pay in taxes was provided by someones elses earnings.

By: Ed Ribocec

Ed Ribocec — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 14:57:35 +0000

A guy that sells an addictive poison wants sympathy?

By: Adam Sinclair

Adam Sinclair — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:17:02 +0000

As usual, cookie cannot comprehend the facts staring him in the face. Sales taxes are not paid by “the few”, they are paid by each customer. I am glad the government audits businesses to make sure that the money goes to the state rather than the cigarette man’s pocket.

By: cookie65

cookie65 — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:42:33 +0000

The greatest power the government has is the power to tax. In a state where so few are carrying so many the cost to the few gets pretty steep. The people on the recieving end of socialism don’t think it is socialism.

By: East End

East End — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 03:33:15 +0000

I like the fact that he says he paid the BOE $90,000 a year. PAID!! errr.. you COLLECTED sales tax from customers and REMITTED what you collected. Oops, I forgot it was the prior owners fault that you over collected sales tax and keep such excellent books that the additional money in the bank was an honest mistake.

By: Iz

Iz — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:29:01 +0000

So…because this guy charged was ripping the public off by charging .02% extra on every single sale & and thought he could pocket the State’s money from the kickbacks he was getting from cigarrette companies…then it’s the State that’s the criminal? Hmmmm…let’s count the victims this business owner was cheating:

1)Every paying customer that ever entered his doors
2)Fire Departments
3)Police Departments
4)Hospitals
5)Schools
6)Emergency Response Service
7)Highway Patrol
8)and the Elderly

But the State is the criminal? Well…if Sen. Runner didn’t back you up & he’s a staunch Republican…then odds are…YOU ACTUALLY DO OWE THE MONEY!!! The money he collected was not his, but he’s choosing to feel as though he should get to keep it.