Berry Talbot Royer recently started working with a local truck supplies & equipment company. Before coming to BTR, this company had chosen to work with a sole practitioner for their tax services. Like many of our small business clients, different parts of the business were setup as separate companies, or included in the shareholders’ individual tax returns. This resulted in four separate tax returns that needed to be prepared for one client.
Topics: Tax Tips, Tax Laws, Start Up, Accounting, BTR, Work Life, Accounting News
A local construction company, seeking to expand their business, went to their long-time banker to apply for a loan. To their surprise, the bank could not approve their loan application. Why did this happen? The Company’s business was good, they were current on their bills, and they had recently acquired a significant amount of heavy equipment with the cash flow that was coming in.
The bank stated that the denial of the loan application was due a substantial loss shown on the Company’s latest income tax return. Because this “tax” loss bewildered the Company management, their banker recommended that they pay a visit to Berry Talbot Royer.
Topics: Tax Tips, Tax Planning, Accounting, BTR
The CEO of an IT equipment company had been working with a larger accounting firm, but grew dissatisfied because he felt that the firm wasn’t particularly focused on or concerned with his company’s needs. While exploring his options with other firms in downtown Portland, one of his customers recommended Berry Talbot Royer. He considered the recommendation and made an appointment with us to assess how we compared with the other firms.
Topics: Insider, Entrepreneurs, Accounting
A construction company was unsatisfied with the service it was receiving from a downtown Portland firm, and even more unsatisfied with the fees they were paying for that poor service. Frustrated, they came to us for help.
They needed tax returns and reviewed financial statements in order to meet financing covenants with their bank. Soon after our staff started working on their books, we noticed that the company had a substantial amount of revenue coming from outside the state of Maine. This raised a red flag for us. We were concerned with whether or not the company had nexus in other states.
When a company has nexus with a state, it means its activities in the state are substantial enough to create a tax filing obligation. These obligations can include sales and use tax, income tax, franchise tax, or other business taxes. The problem is that no single definition for nexus applies to all states. In some states a physical presence is required (for example, owning property, leasing an office, employing people, etc.), but in other states this is not required. Therefore, a good tax accountant must review and understand the nature of your business operations and the statutes and rulings in each state in which you are doing business in order to really help you remain in compliance and avoid penalties.
Topics: Insider, Entrepreneurs, Accounting
A successful and well-established Maine-based engineering company was working with one of the largest public accounting firms in the state, but the company’s management was dissatisfied with the quality of services they were receiving. They decided to make a change. Even though Berry Talbot Royer, is not as large a firm as the engineering company was accustomed to, our senior partner, Michael Royer, offered our services to them. After a thorough review of our culture and values, our experience with other companies, and the level of service we promised to deliver, they accepted our proposal. They understood that the value of a relationship with an accounting firm does not stem from its size, but from the quality and level of services it can deliver.
Topics: Insider, Entrepreneurs, Accounting
