Luke & Associates, L.L.C.
Services
Tax Recovery
Businesses traditionally pay state and local sales taxes that are not due, which add up to substantial amounts over a four-year statute period. We identify these taxes and recover the money for your business through legitimate exemptions allowed by law. Our fee is based on a percentage of the amount recovered. We also develop tax strategies that increase your business profits in the future.
Reassurance
Do you believe your company is correctly applying sales and use tax laws to purchases? We can conduct a quick examination of your records to determine how your company is doing. If we cannot obtain a tax refund for your company, we do not charge a fee.
Summary of Sales Tax Refund Examination
Each state has a statute of limitations for which refunds of sales taxes paid in error can be recovered. Luke & Associates will examine your records for the applicable statute period to determine if an overpayment of sales taxes was made. Luke & Associates’ fee is contingent upon taxes actually recovered. Even if you believe your company has properly paid or accrued sales tax this is an inexpensive verification, and refunds will be obtained if tax paid in error is found. If no overpayments are found there is no charge for Luke & Associates’ services.
The process begins by discussing with your personnel various business activities of the company. Normally, we need to know what you manufacture, what services you perform, etc. If your company is a manufacturer we will request a plant tour to familiarize ourselves with the equipment and process used to make your products. We will also discuss any past sales and use tax audits performed, if any sales tax has been accrued and reported on purchases, if your company has a sales tax permit, and if the sales tax report is filed quarterly, monthly, or yearly. A copy of your chart of accounts and current depreciation schedule will also be requested. If your company keeps a separate file of asset purchase invoices, it would be examined in detail for errors in your favor.
Then we would begin our examination of your account payable invoices. You just show us where the records are and we will do all of the work. Copies are made of any invoices on which sales tax appears to have been paid in error and a schedule of these invoices is completed and discussed in detail with your personnel to make sure our assessment was correct. Any invoices scheduled that tax was properly paid on will be deleted. Your company will be given a copy of the schedules, then a decision will be made whether the over payment will be submitted to the state audit office or used to reduce the tax paid on the next return filed. Our fee is due when you actually receive the refund check or realize the refund as a reduction on a return.
The process normally will take only a small amount of your personnel’s time. If tax is being paid in error it will be lost forever if not recovered before the statute expires. Our discussions of errors found will also help your company determine the taxability of various issues for future savings. All work will be performed or supervised by a retired auditor (28 years of experience) from the Texas Comptroller’s Department.