ETD: 829 Sales Tax Audits; Taglines; Merchandise Optimization Webinar

Tue Oct 26 00:13:13 GMT 2004

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0829            October 26, 2004
  George Matyjewicz, Moderator         mailto:georgem at gapent.com
  Published by:  GAP Enterprises, Ltd.  http://www.etailersdigest.com
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  CONTENTS

  [1]  Greetings
  [2]  Sales Tax Audits
  [3]  Taglines
  [4]  Merchandise Optimization Webinar

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  [1]  Greetings.
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Hi All:

I hope the holiday season preparations are going well for you.  Exactly 60 
days until Christmas.  Time to do some heavy duty promotions.  What do you 
have planned?

I'll be the keynote luncheon speaker at an IIA conference in Syracuse, NY 
tomorrow (Wednesday).  If anybody is in the area and would like to attend, 
let me know, and I'll send details.  This is not retailing stuff - it's 
about the new COSO ERM framework and geared towards companies who are 
considering implementing an Enterprise Risk Management solution (aren't you 
glad you asked?).

List member Jim D'Arcangelo, Managing Partner at one of the top 100 CPA 
firms in the U.S. offers some comments on Sales Tax audits.  Better heed 
the advice - both as a retailer and consumer.

John Shultze gave us some more taglines.  How about some where the company 
or product name is in the tagline?

As we all know, Inventory Turns are critical to improving the bottom 
line.   You may be interested in a Webinar on Thursday.  Check out 
"Merchandise Optimization Webinar."

60 days until Christmas.  What are you doing this year to increase business?

Tell us about your business which will remain  for posterity at 
our  "Members: Who Are You?" 
site.   http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a 
form there for you to tell us about you.  As I said when I first proposed 
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't 
know anything about each other.   So, tell us who you are and what you do.

Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.

Sincerely

George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com

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  [2]  Sales Tax Audits
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Be sure your retail software can handle the collecting of sales tax from 
multiple jurisdictions.  Many of the legacy applications collect local tax 
or perhaps three sales taxes only, i.e., municipality, county and 
state.  Yet in this world of easy delivery, consumers are purchasing and 
having goods delivered to other jurisdictions.  Let's look at a couple of 
examples:

A.  Giftware retailer in NYC.
1. Customer visits store and buys goods to be shipped to Orange County (NY) 
where the sales tax is less.  The store needs to charge the lesser tax.
2.  Customer visits store and buys goods to be shipped to New Jersey.  The 
retailer doesn't have a store in NJ, so the usual assumption is not to 
charge sales tax.  Wrong!  NY, NJ and CT have an agreement among them that 
businesses must collect sales tax from the participating states.  Further, 
if shipping is done frequently, the retailer will have to file income tax 
returns in those states.

B.  Equipment rental company in NY state on NJ border.
1.  Contractor provides a sales tax exempt certificate for a particular 
job, i.e., they are doing work for a NY school.  The retailer does not have 
to collect sales tax for THAT JOB only!  The software needs to be able to 
track sales tax per job, and not for the customer.  Often the software only 
has capability for one exempt certificate, and it exempts all sales 
tax.  That is wrong.
2.  Contractor rents equipment for a job in NJ.  The normal practice is not 
to collect sales tax, since the company doesn't do business in 
NJ.  Wrong.  Per A2 above.
Also, you need to verify whether or not sales tax is exempt on everything, 
i.e., it may be exempt on equipment but not supplies.

C.  You buy an expensive watch in Europe and you live in California.  You 
declare the customs duty, and pay the duties.  That's it right?  Nope!  CA 
will bill you for sales tax, which may take them 6-12 months to get around 
to billing.  The rules differ in each state, so check you local regulations.

When you don't collect sales tax, and you do know about it, you are 
committing a felony and when you get caught, you will face serious charges 
as well as huge fines for back taxes, penalties and interest.

Many years ago, Tiffany's got caught shipping empty boxes out of state and 
letting the tourists wear their jewelry out of the store.  The new York 
taxing authority caught them and they were fined in the millions  (I 
believe it was $75 million) since the taxing authority decided that nothing 
that had been purchased was actually shipped so Tiffany's owed the taxes, 
penalties and interest on everything they had ever sold as tax free.

This also affects consumers, since many (most) retailers do not have the 
assets that Tiffany's does to pay the fine so they will be singing like a 
little bird to get all those who cheated with him to help pay the 
fine.  Someone who will cheat the government with all of their powers to 
catch him will surely cheat those who have no ability to catch him.

Jim D'Arcangelo
http://darcangelo.com/
http://www.darcangelosoftwareservices.com/

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  [3]  Taglines
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Here's a few off the top of my head for Phil Glowatz's collection of tag 
lines. I would love a copy when you're done.

   "Where's the beef!" (Wendy's)

   "Plop-plop Fiz-fiz, oh what a relief it is."   (Alkaselzer) right spelling?

   "Only you can prevent forest fires"  (smokey the bear)

   "From the land of sky blue waters, comes the beer that's so 
refreshing"   (Hamms beer)

   "How do you handle a hungry man" (the man handlers by   Campbell soup)

   "Shot from guns"  (puffed rice & puffed wheat) wow...I'm getting old.

   "Hey, look at Mikey. He Likes It!" (life cereal)

   "I've fallen and I can't get up"  (Lifecall)

   "They're Grrrrrreat!" (frosted flakes)

   "It's everywhere you want to be" (Visa)

   "Just Do it!" (Nike)

   "A diamond is forever" (De Beers)

   "Drivers Wanted" (Volkswagon)

   "Built Ford Tough"

   "Like a Rock" (chevy trucks)

   "Have it your way" (Burger King)

   "I can't believe it's not butter"

   "You don't fool with mother nature"

   "Everything you ever wanted in a beer -- and less" (Miller Lite)

   "You deserve a break today" (McDonald's

   "the uncola" (7up)

   "You think it's butter, but it's not, it's Chiffon"

   "You've Got Ring Around the Collar (Wisk)

   "Choosy mothers choose Jif"

   "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" (Parkay margarine

   "Who wears short shorts?" (Nair hair removal cream)

   "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand" (M&M's)

   "I wish I was an Oscar Meyer wiener"

   "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, 
on a sesame seed bun" (McDonalds)

   "Opportunities in Direct Marketing" (NMOA) ;-)

We have just finished publishing two more mail order advertising market guides.

Markets Covered:
   - Bridal
   - Christian
   - Hispanic
   - Parenting
   - Women

Details here: http://www.nmoa.org/catalog/index.htm

-- 
Best regards,
John Schulte
President and Chairman
National Mail Order Association (NMOA)
http://www.nmoa.org
Tel: 612-788-1673
Direct Marketing Events at: http://www.DMEvents.org

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  [4]  Merchandise Optimization Webinar
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If you are one of the many retailers looking to Increase Inventory Turns 
while also Improving Customer Service Levels, be sure to join RIS on 
Thursday October 28th for a complimentary Web Seminar on "Integrating 
Demand & Supply Chain Management."

This session will examine such hot topics as:
   *Retail Lifecycle Product Management
   *Advanced Retail Planning
   *Utilizing Customer Data for Demand Planning
   *Information Transparency

Speakers for this web event will include:
   *Jim Bengier, VP of Supply Chain, Tweeter Home Entertainment
   *Alexi Sarnevitz, Retail Research Director, AMR Research
   *Calvin Lee, VP & Chief Scientist, Evant

Please REGISTER today to hold your seat for this web event.
https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=8983&sessionid=1&key=5586EDE675C831A18F82912DFE148377&referrer=&sourcepage=register

Joe Skorupa
Consumer Goods Technology

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