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My accountant would not be able to handle a XX-fold increase in the number of tax codes, forms and filings he has to handle per-client. We're going to have to t

My accountant would not be able to handle a XX-fold increase in the number of tax codes, forms and filings he has to handle per-client. We're going to have to train more accountants.

tptacek 14y ago
I don't agree. Maybe you could ask your accountant? I guess at some point I could ask ours too.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  I have to make an appointment to see my accountant at least 1-2 months in advance if it's anywhere near tax time (late January-May). He's definitely no time to take on more forms per client, let alone advise me properly which states will tax which products at what rates. I run the online store for my father's retail shop, with several hundred SKUs. We sell fancy health water bottles for example -- some states this is not taxed, some it is, some it is depending on bottle size and whether it meets their definition of water or some other kind of beverage. Someone will have to reconcile every SKU against every state's sales tax classification changes every 90 days. That's not something any accountant does for small businesses operating in a single state right now.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    Maybe get a better accountant? I'm being serious. I definitely don't need to ask a month in advance to talk to my person accountant or our business's.
    - dangrossman 14y ago
      We'll obviously need one (where today this accountant meets all our needs, and has been a family friend for decades), but a small business accountant that can do what's going to be required doesn't exist yet. Only national chains have had to worry about such things.
      - tptacek 14y ago
        Again, and respectfully, I don't think handling sales tax filings for a small business is a huge hurdle compared to some of the craziness that even small business accountants are routinely called on to do. Your point upthread was "no small business person can handle filings to 50 states". I'll stipulate that! My response is just, people with real businesses usually don't (and shouldn't) DIY their taxes anyways.
        deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
        uit 14y ago
        They dont? And shouldnt? Why not? The point someone here is trying to make is that what was once simple is potentially going to become inordinately difficult. Not impossible but very difficult. And by who's determination is my business "not real" if I do my own taxes??? At least I do my taxes more accurately than Geithner does or did AND HE got to sign our dollar bills! Was his business "not real"? Once again, thanks to GovCo, life is getting worse, harder not easier, asinine not smart. There is absolutely NO THOUGHT WHATSOEVER put into anything coming from DC lately. None.
        rayiner 14y ago
        What exactly is your complaint here? Are you opposed to sales taxes on principle? If not, what's your complaint? Properly accounting for sales and business taxes, as well as following other laws, in a jurisdiction in which you do business is a basic cost of doing business. The U.S. just happens to be a country of 50 sovereign jurisdictions, each with autonomy in how they structure their sales and business taxes. Does this make accounting for taxes complicated? Sure. It makes lots of things complicated. But we did it on purpose. Why should Congress insulate you from that reality? The internet certainly makes it easier to say take orders from people in many different jurisdictions at once, but why should you get to avoid the other business realities of operating in multiple jurisdictions just because you're an internet business? You might see everyone as just an IP address, but in the real world, groups of those IP addresses are parts of sovereign entities called state and national governments, and each of those groups are governed by different laws. Just being an internet business shouldn't insulate you from the reality that exists once you break through the IP address abstraction.

My accountant would not be able to handle a XX-fold increase in the number of tax codes, forms and filings he has to handle per-client. We're going to have to train more accountants.

tptacek 14y ago

I don't agree. Maybe you could ask your accountant? I guess at some point I could ask ours too.

dangrossman 14y ago
I have to make an appointment to see my accountant at least 1-2 months in advance if it's anywhere near tax time (late January-May). He's definitely no time to take on more forms per client, let alone advise me properly which states will tax which products at what rates. I run the online store for my father's retail shop, with several hundred SKUs. We sell fancy health water bottles for example -- some states this is not taxed, some it is, some it is depending on bottle size and whether it meets their definition of water or some other kind of beverage. Someone will have to reconcile every SKU against every state's sales tax classification changes every 90 days. That's not something any accountant does for small businesses operating in a single state right now.
- tptacek 14y ago
  Maybe get a better accountant? I'm being serious. I definitely don't need to ask a month in advance to talk to my person accountant or our business's.
  - dangrossman 14y ago
    We'll obviously need one (where today this accountant meets all our needs, and has been a family friend for decades), but a small business accountant that can do what's going to be required doesn't exist yet. Only national chains have had to worry about such things.
    - tptacek 14y ago
      Again, and respectfully, I don't think handling sales tax filings for a small business is a huge hurdle compared to some of the craziness that even small business accountants are routinely called on to do. Your point upthread was "no small business person can handle filings to 50 states". I'll stipulate that! My response is just, people with real businesses usually don't (and shouldn't) DIY their taxes anyways.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - uit 14y ago
        They dont? And shouldnt? Why not? The point someone here is trying to make is that what was once simple is potentially going to become inordinately difficult. Not impossible but very difficult. And by who's determination is my business "not real" if I do my own taxes??? At least I do my taxes more accurately than Geithner does or did AND HE got to sign our dollar bills! Was his business "not real"? Once again, thanks to GovCo, life is getting worse, harder not easier, asinine not smart. There is absolutely NO THOUGHT WHATSOEVER put into anything coming from DC lately. None.
        rayiner 14y ago
        What exactly is your complaint here? Are you opposed to sales taxes on principle? If not, what's your complaint? Properly accounting for sales and business taxes, as well as following other laws, in a jurisdiction in which you do business is a basic cost of doing business. The U.S. just happens to be a country of 50 sovereign jurisdictions, each with autonomy in how they structure their sales and business taxes. Does this make accounting for taxes complicated? Sure. It makes lots of things complicated. But we did it on purpose. Why should Congress insulate you from that reality? The internet certainly makes it easier to say take orders from people in many different jurisdictions at once, but why should you get to avoid the other business realities of operating in multiple jurisdictions just because you're an internet business? You might see everyone as just an IP address, but in the real world, groups of those IP addresses are parts of sovereign entities called state and national governments, and each of those groups are governed by different laws. Just being an internet business shouldn't insulate you from the reality that exists once you break through the IP address abstraction.