KPMG'S STATE AND LOCAL TAX PRACTICE: AN OVERVIEW
KPMG's State and Local Tax (SALT) professionals across the United States combine the real-world experience and technical know-how to offer our clients a broad range of state and local tax services. Our close-knit SALT team also continually monitors the legislative, judicial, and regulatory tax landscape to keep our clients abreast of new developments that may affect them. Our SALT practice is organized into the following distinct but interconnected practice areas:
The following services are offered across all of these practice areas - advisory, controversy, and compliance services. Two national resource teams also support our practice groups: National Controversy Network and the Washington National Tax State and Local Tax Group.
INCOME AND FRANCHISE TAX SERVICES
Complexity caused by the lack of uniformity in state and local income and franchise tax laws can saddle companies doing business in multi-state locations with dramatically higher costs. Through a broad array of tax advisory, controversy, and compliance services, professionals in our Income and Franchise Tax Services practice can help clients manage the complexities of nexus, apportionment, tax base, income classification, and filing options.
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U.S. INDIRECT TAX SERVICES
Well-versed in multi-state issues that affect both U.S.-headquartered and non-U.S.-headquartered companies, our professionals provide a range of services, including:
- Sales Tax Compliance
- Recovery of Overpayments
- State Audit Defense
- Transaction Tax Systems
- Exemption Certificate Compliance
- Voluntary Disclosure Services
- Sales and Use Tax Outsourcing
- Indirect and Value-Added Tax (VAT) Services
- Unclaimed Property Services
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GLOBAL LOCATION AND EXPANSION SERVICES (GLES)
KPMG’s GLES offers assistance with expansion-based business services including:
- Site Selection/Location Analysis
- Business Incentive Negotiation
- Credit Review
- Economic Development
Each of these services is delivered nationally and internationally by a diverse group of professionals with extensive state and local market experience and industry knowledge. KPMG professionals can provide services designed to help companies mitigate their start-up and operational costs on both a tax and non-tax basis (e.g., expansion, consolidation, relocation or research and development).
GLES also offers Green Building Services that can help identify and realize the tax and other credits and incentives that are available to a company when it sets up operations in an environmentally friendly building.
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PAYROLL AND UNEMPLOYMENT TAX SERVICES
Merger, acquisition, downsizing, and relocation activities may present companies with opportunities to lower their employment taxes. KPMG's Payroll and Unemployment Tax Services practice helps clients identify and quantify refund opportunities, as well as safeguard against employment tax pitfalls. In addition, we can assist them in identifying and securing the abatement of penalties for payroll-related issues. Services offered by the practice include:
- Refund Evaluation of Successor Transfers and Reorganization Transactions - Through this service, we can help clients identify and secure refunds associated with the overpayment of FICA, FUTA, and state unemployment insurance (SUI) taxes that can occur when a company participates in a merger, acquisition or reorganization transaction.
- State Unemployment Insurance Economic Recovery Services - These services are designed to help employers plan for and address SUI tax rate increases. They include joint account analysis, voluntary contribution analysis, and SUI tax rate verification.
Tax Controversy Services - Our national network of Tax Controversy professionals provides comprehensive worker-classification services. Through these services, we help clients analyze current worker classification procedures and policies to determine compliance with federal and state laws. In addition, we design on-site worker classification relationship maintenance training programs for managers and others who work directly with independent contractors. We also provide IRS and state employment tax audit representation services.
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NATIONAL UNCLAIMED PROPERTY SERVICES
Each year, thousands of companies across the United States face an unclaimed property audit. These state-sponsored audits are designed to determine whether organizations are complying with state laws regarding unclaimed property - property that has not been claimed by its owner for a specified period of time. (Such property can include uncashed payroll and dividend checks, credit balances in customer accounts, dormant bank accounts, unredeemed gift certificates, and unpaid amounts due under insurance and annuity contracts.)
Unclaimed property is required - after a statutorily specified amount of time - to be turned over to the state, which acts as a custodian of the property until claimed by the "rightful owner." Failure to comply with the relevant laws can result in substantial assessments, including penalties and interest charges.
With the end of several state-sponsored unclaimed property reporting amnesty programs, many states have begun to more aggressively enforce their unclaimed property laws and regulations through audits. SALT's National Unclaimed Property Services practice offers a comprehensive, uniform approach to help clients mitigate their unclaimed property liabilities.
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NATIONAL RESOURCE TEAMS
NATIONAL CONTROVERSY SERVICES
Each of KPMG's core practice groups provides a broad range of controversy services. Our Controversy Services professionals have experience in dealing with state auditors and officials in their particular state and local tax jurisdictions, and thus are able to work effectively within their respective state tax systems. These professionals function as a close-knit national team to coordinate a client's audit needs across multiple jurisdictions, avoiding the inefficiencies that often result from less coordinated service delivery models. Our approach, along with regular communication among our Controversy Services professionals, helps eliminate redundancies in information gathering and provides clients with timely and effective multi-state assistance.
Through our national network of Controversy Services professionals, KPMG is able to address the full range of multi-state tax controversy needs from complex rulings to audit defense and issue resolution. Thanks to real-world experience gained through successful engagements in many industries and jurisdictions, we can help clients efficiently and effectively resolve audits - and such resolutions often translate into meaningful reductions in tax costs.
When delivering controversy services, KPMG professionals:
- Gain an in-depth understanding of a company's business in order to provide effective representation
- Work collaboratively within the network, leveraging their knowledge and experience
- Help determine which procedural route - settlement, conciliation conference, or administrative hearing - an individual client should pursue
- Guide the controversy through administrative appeals when issues cannot be resolved at the audit level.
WASHINGTON NATIONAL TAX PRACTICE - STATE AND LOCAL TAX SERVICES
The top-notch technical professionals in our Washington National Tax (WNT) SALT practice help our larger SALT practice and our clients stay on top of the latest news and developments from national and state legislatures, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of the Treasury, and other influential committees and policy-making entities. They continually monitor the outlook for new tax legislation and regulations and analyze the possible implications for our clients. Our WNT SALT professionals regularly supplement our local teams as we strive to bring the most appropriate technical talent to bear in serving the needs of our clients.
In addition to their client service responsibilities, the WNT SALT practice has developed a number of print and electronic communication vehicles to help keep clients up to date on state and local tax developments. These include:
- KPMG TaxWatch Events - consist of a complimentary live teleconference, audiocasts or webcasts, ranging from 60 to 120 minutes in length, held regularly for an executive-level audience and featuring discussions of critical issues by our professionals and guest speakers. Topics serve to highlight recent news and developments and provide timely analysis of current tax developments, issues, and emerging trends. These calls conclude with an open-ended Q&A session. Attendees can provide immediate and measurable feedback during these educational events through polling and exit surveys. They also earn Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for participating in these sessions. Many of these events are also archived and available for on-demand replay.
- Client Publication - Perspectives in State and Local Taxation, a quarterly client newsletter that provides updates and analysis on recent state and local news.
To add your name to the KPMG mailing list, please forward your request including your full name, title, company name, email address, phone number, and company mailing address, to the email addresses listed below:
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