Your issues
What tax issues keep you up at night or worry you during the day? The constant pressure of unexpected exposure? The frustration of resource constraints within your department? Longstanding procedural delays with taxing authorities? The absence of a broad substantive background on the issues, or the need for a proactive as well as reactive response to new audit demands?

Many tax departments have limited resources and personnel. Competing tax return filing and other deadlines consume these resources. Tax planning and issue resolution often take a back seat to the day-to-day demands of compliance. At the same time, management constantly calls for improved risk management and resolution of pending audits.

This is happening at a time when many states, counties, and municipalities are directing more and more resources to audit and enforcement. There have also been numerous legislative, regulatory, and case law changes across the United States. When added to the expanded information sharing among the states and federal government and the increased sophistication of state auditors, these developments have made state and local tax controversy a virtual minefield for tax directors today.

When faced with these challenges,  the State Tax Controversy Specialists at Deloitte Tax LLP can help.

Our services
We can assist you with understanding and dealing with your potential exposure. We can help you identify issues that might spell trouble, with the goal of resolving them expeditiously without unnecessary and expensive litigation. In addition, we can assess your company’s tax posture and explore opportunities for refunds, as well as defend claims for refund that are being challenged.

Specialists with insight and credibility
One reason we are effective in helping you address tax controversies is our accumulated experience and wide-ranging personnel. Our controversy practice includes former state tax commissioners, tax authority legal staff, tax litigators, attorneys and CPAs—knowledgeable professionals who have dealt with a wide variety of complex controversy matters in states throughout the country. We come from state and local jurisdictions across the U.S., we understand both the procedural and substantive tax law, and we frequently interact with key personnel in state tax departments across the nation. In other words, we have the resources and experience, and we know the numbers, the law, and the people.

With this background, our State Tax Controversy Specialists can help provide insight regarding how state and local governments may evaluate issues, react to taxpayer arguments, and resolve disputed items. We can help you identify weaknesses in auditors’ positions and raise the supporting arguments or offsetting issues that may advance your company’s position.

Given our experience over many years and many tax controversy matters, we also have a sense of what resolutions are fair and consistent with previous administrative handling of issues. We try to use our in-depth knowledge and strategic approaches to help you satisfactorily resolve your tax controversies, avoid tax overpayments, and overcome lengthy procedural obstacles.

On top of today’s pressing issues The range of state and local tax controversies that companies face today is unprecedented. Consider the State Tax Controversy Specialists at Deloitte Tax LLP when you must deal with the following issues:

Audit defense and appeals — We are specially qualified to represent your company before taxing authorities, helping you argue the merits of your case and, if necessary, assisting you in the presentation of your case through the administrative appeals process. There are also times when settlement is the leading answer, and we can consult with you regarding when to contest and when to settle your dispute. In the past several years, we have been able to favorably resolve cases involving significant matters, without the necessity of administrative appeals or other lengthy procedures. Some of these cases involved such issues as apportionment positions, credits and incentives, and jurisdiction to tax.

Reporting federal audit adjustments — States often require that you report federal tax changes to your company’s income upon receiving a Revenue Agent’s Report (RAR) in connection with an IRS audit. We can help you identify changes that may require reporting, address deadlines imposed by the states, address other multistate tax requirements arising from these changes, and discuss some of the state tax opportunities that an RAR may present. We may be able to assist you in offsetting your federal adjustment through state claims for refund in certain states.

Advance rulings and opinions — Seeking guidance, formal or informal, from tax authorities for interpretation of tax laws can make it easier for your company to comply with those laws. We can help you pursue a formal or informal ruling to ascertain how a tax authority may treat a particular transaction or filing position, or assist you in seeking an alternative apportionment formula tailored to your business or industry. In the past several years, we have successfully obtained special apportionment formulas in broker-dealer transactions, compensation matters, and business dispositions

Tax shelter review — Is your company involved in “reportable transactions” or state or federal “listed transactions?” We can assist and advise you with regard to proper compliance, pursuing advisory opinions, or simply consulting on the proper application of the rules to your transaction. This is an area where the state and federal governments are proactively sharing information, and states have begun identifying specific transactions for special attention.

Voluntary disclosures — If your company has potential tax exposure for prior years, we can help you negotiate Voluntary Disclosure Agreements, often in advance of revealing the taxpayer’s identity, for a potentially more advantageous resolution. With in-house specialists and relationships in almost every state, we can expeditiously present your company’s facts with the goal of resolving growing outstanding liabilities.

Managed audits — We can perform an initial audit of your company, and then submit the audit results to the appropriate taxing authority for review. This can accelerate the audit process and may help generate tax savings opportunities in the course of our review.

Data retention — Our specialists understand the rules in each state relating to data retention requirements for day-to-day reporting and for audit purposes. We can help you assess which documents you need to keep and for how long. And we can help you develop procedures and mechanisms for handling those documents.

The Deloitte Tax difference
Count on Deloitte Tax for integrated tax services that help you pursue your business objectives. Our specialists have the necessary background and experience to help you address state and local tax controversies and assist you in pursuing cost-effective results.