Multistate Tax Group Rejects Real-Time Sales Tax Audit Scheme

The Multistate Tax Commission voted to suspend consideration of a proposal for “real-time” sales tax audits of large retailers, finding no urgency for the initiative and limited resources within the intergovernmental tax agency to pursue it.

The commission’s audit committee Wednesday rejected the “Sales Tax Compliance Assurance Review program” proposed by Nikki Dobay, a Portland, Ore., a partner at Greenberg Traurig LLP and a former senior tax counsel with the business-focused Council on State Taxation. The proposal would have allowed sellers with complex compliance issues to come forward and participate voluntarily in a prospective audit process hosted by the ...