I PRESS RELEASE I
O&A Hosts Special Seminar For Lawyers
New York Sales and Use Tax - What Every Lawyer Should Know
WALL STREET, NY, June 12, 2007 -- In an effort to help business lawyers understand sales and use tax laws and how they impact their clients, Olivier & Associates conducted a professional seminar on Long Island titled New York Sales and
Use Tax- What Every Lawyer Should Know.
Leading the seminar was sales and use tax specialist, Mark L. Stone, CPA. Attendees earned two continuing legal education (CLE) credits.
The seminar opened by providing a general overview of sales and use taxes. "Sales tax" is a transactional tax imposed on the retail sale of tangible personal property and certain specific services. "Use tax" is complementary to the
sales tax. Its purpose is to equalize the tax imposed on in-state and out-of-state purchases.
States cannot impose sales tax on sales made outside the state. Therefore, the use tax is imposed on items purchased outside the state and brought into the state. "Without a use tax, an in-state consumer would have an incentive to purchase the
goods outside the state in order to avoid the home state's sales tax," Stone says.
Many lawyers in attendance said they often encounter clients who need to solve sales and use tax problems or want advice on how to avoid these problems. Stone detailed a number of tips lawyer's could use in their daily practice as well as some sales
and use tax traps to watch out for.
Stone, a former NY State Sales and Use Tax Auditor, focused on common sales tax issues lawyers are frequently faced with, such as: fiduciary liability, business acquisitions, requirements of doing business, nontaxable items, making items nontaxable,
tax audits, exemptions, services and tangible personal property.
Most attendees were unclear about the laws regarding purchases for resale. "A sale for resale is a sale to a purchaser who will resell the goods or services throughout the regular course of the purchaser's business," Stone says. "Like
New York, most states provide an exemption for sales for resale."
Stone also educated the lawyers on which forms to use for important transactions such as a Resale Certificate and an Application for Registration as a Sales Tax Vendor.
About Olivier & Associates
Olivier & Associates, headquartered on Wall Street, is a highly specialized team of nationally recognized accountants, attorneys and former state tax auditors who understand Sales, Use & Transaction Tax law from both sides of the table. Our specialists provide premium tax consulting
services to businesses doing under $250,000 annually to Fortune 1000 companies with revenues in the billions.
Mark L. Stone, CPA contact
380 North Broadway - Suite 409
Jericho, NY 11753
mstone@oatax.com
1-516-931-1500
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