New Free Guide for CPAs - "How to Talk to Your Clients about Sales and Use Tax"
Offers 5-step action plan for addressing clients' sales and use tax needs, and includes
Practice Building Checklist and sample email template for outreach to clients
Laguna Hills, Calif. – January 25, 2010 – CPA firms are well-positioned to take the lead in helping guide their clients through the complicated, time-consuming, and resource-intensive world of sales tax compliance and management, according to a new, free guide authored by Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP.
The just-published "How to Talk to Your Clients about Sales and Use Tax" asks CPAs to put themselves in their clients' shoes to help them address the challenge of complying with sales tax rules in an environment of heightened audit risk.
Underwritten by SpeedTax, a Software-as-a-Service sales tax solution provider, the guide outlines 5 steps that firms should take to begin addressing their clients' sales and use tax needs.
"CPA firms, now more than ever, have an opportunity to be proactive in helping their clients minimize audit risk, reduce overhead and streamline processes associated with state sales tax compliance," said Gregory Rosser, CPA, and Executive Director of State & Local Tax at Grant Thornton. "Geni's new guide helps firms walk through the steps of determining first the scope of services they will offer, and secondly how to promote them to current and potential clients. This is timely advice for firms that have decided to take action."
"Sales tax is an increasingly important source of revenue for states experiencing massive revenue shortfalls, so now is the time for CPA firms to start talking to their clients about their increased audit exposure," said Whitehouse. "Many sales tax-related tasks are too complicated and time-consuming for the average business owner – and yet they have no choice but to stay in compliance. I wrote this guide in hopes that more firms would start having meaningful discussions with their clients. Clear communication will ultimately help clients address their sales tax headaches, while helping firms deliver on their promise to be a ‘trusted advisor'."
"How to Talk to Your Clients about Sales and Use Tax" is available now for download at: www.speedtax.com/sales-tax-resources.
About Geni Whitehouse
Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM, is the author of How to Make a Boring Subject Interesting : 52 ways even a nerd can be heard, and is the founder of a communications company called Even a Nerd Can be Heard (www.evenanerd.com) in Pleasanton, California. She is a former software industry executive, having held roles in Product Management and Strategic Alliances for Sage Software, Accpac, and Navision Software. As a former partner in an Atlanta CPA firm, she learned how to put technical concepts in layman's terms. Whitehouse is a two-time graduate of the Jeff Justice Comedy Workshoppe in Atlanta. The day it became her full-time job to handle sales tax for one former employer was the day she decided to seek opportunities elsewhere. Contact Geni Whitehouse at geni@evenanerd.com, or at 925-202-1980.
About SpeedTax
SpeedTax is an easy-to-use, affordable and technologically advanced web-based (Software-as-a-Service) sales tax solution for businesses of all sizes. SpeedTax performs real-time sales tax calculations, provides automated returns preparation and filing, and integrates seamlessly with customers' financial or e-commerce systems. SpeedTax also offers reporting, treasury management and audit defense with sophisticated, web-based compliance management and executive dashboard tools. SpeedTax allows companies to outsource the researching, calculating, posting, reporting and remitting of sales taxes – while better managing their business via online, real-time access to sales tax data. For more information, visit www.speedtax.com, or call us at 888.349.2441.
Media Contact:
Brian Austin
Director of Public Relations
949.215.1177 (Office)
707.799.9838 (Mobile)
brianaustin@speedtax.com
