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Want to succeed in renewable energy? Follow these seven steps.

05.18.21

This article originally appeared as a BDO USA, P.A.'s “Natural Resources” alert (April 2021). Authored by Jim Plomer, Managing Director, and Clark Sackschewsky, National Natural Resources Leader.

Renewable energy is taking off. Governments, regulators, investors, and consumers worldwide are shifting their focus toward renewable energy in an effort to fight climate change and increase sustainability. As a result, there are many new entrants to the scene—AngelList has over 4,000 clean energy startups in its database, and that number is increasing rapidly. At the same time, traditional oil and gas players are increasing their investments in renewables—BDO’s recent CFO survey found that while COVID-19 created some interruptions, 82% of oil and gas companies plan to invest in new renewables projects this year. Many power and utilities companies that have dominated the space for years are creating bold plans to increase production. It’s clear there’s ample opportunity in the space, and companies are jockeying to seize it.

But success in the renewables space is easier said than done, especially given growing competition across the energy industry.

Whether you’re an emerging renewables startup seeking investors, or an oil and gas company or a power player looking to build or buy renewables capabilities, there are key factors you’ll need to keep in mind to succeed in this increasingly crowded space.

1. Have an agile business strategy.

2021 will likely see an increase in alternative energy related deal making as established players consolidate positions to build scale, and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) flush with capital identify companies with high projected growth to sponsor into the public markets. Before the end of 2020, 11 alternative energy and ESG-focused SPACs went public, raising over $3 billion in total, and we expect this trend will continue.

At the same time, there are continued new entrants and technologies in the industry developing new capabilities to meet fast growing customer needs and expectations. Like investors, consumers are increasingly considering the impact their energy use has on environmental concerns. They also see renewable energy related products and services as a means to improve their lives in an environmentally sensitive way (e.g. electric vehicles), or simply seeking solutions to life’s challenges (e.g. battery storage). Their evolving expectations call for direct-to-consumer service offerings, integrated products, usability, real-time data insights, behavioral forecasts and diversified energy offerings.

For energy companies, agility will be key to surviving in the near term. Companies need to be acutely attuned to the everchanging business environment, and unafraid to pivot their strategies to take advantage of external shifts. Companies with agility built into their DNA share some common characteristics: open communication between stakeholders to gauge when adjustments are required, and constant—and more importantly, objective—self‑assessment.

2. Establish high standards.

Thorough and transparent accounting procedures and controls along with clear financial reporting are critical to provide companies the information required to make informed decisions. Companies should make a priority to invest in the people and fit-for-purpose technology solutions to enable these processes.

Adhering to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards are fundamental to renewable energy companies. ESG policies and procedures should be established and monitored not just within the company, but throughout their value-chains. This includes the executive team, employees, contractors, business partners, vendors and suppliers, and customers.

To enhance their competitive advantage, energy companies should communicate adherence to ESG programs with internal and external stakeholders, as it will instill their ongoing support and confidence in the organization.

3. Innovate continuously.

As a result of COVID-19 and its related regional lockdowns, 2020 introduced a new era of heightened digital dependency across industries. For energy companies, this meant that consumer demand largely shifted to residential power use and consumers raised their expectations into service transparency. Consequently, energy companies prioritized technological investments in their business strategies to respond to the change. However, the lifespan to exploit any new technology is short. Disrupters are everywhere, and organizations shouldn’t get comfortable once a capability is adopted.

Instead, they should develop multiple avenues to help anticipate and drive technology advancements, including internal investments, targeted acquisitions, strategic partnerships, sponsored academia research, and membership in professional organizations. This will also allow for strengthened competitive differentiators through the speed and efficiency advantages that technology supports.

4. Know your geography.

Opportunities exist at the local level to tailor solutions to the conditions and needs of the unique marketplace and infrastructure. For example, California state law required 33% of retail electricity sales to be powered by renewable portfolio standard (RPS) eligible sources by 2020. These include investor-owned utilities (IOUs), electric service providers (ESPs), and community choice aggregators (CCAs), excluding production by hydroelectric energy. Surpassing that goal two years early, the state ranked as the nation’s top electricity producer of renewables including solar, geothermal, and biomass energy. To realize new goals of becoming 100% carbon-free by 2050, the state has passed energy efficiency and renewable energy source mandates on commercial, and even residential, construction.

Understanding local regulatory agencies, their requirements and permits, and the nuances in how to navigate them supports operational due diligence in diversified service offerings. Companies are also better positioned to introduce new areas of growth for renewable investments, while building a positive reputation with the community and local government.

5. Capitalize on a specialty area.

It may be challenging for smaller players to compete in terms of scale advantage with the “renewable supermajors” such as NextEra Energy, which credits itself as one of the nation’s “largest capital investors in infrastructure.” But focusing on a specialty area—rather than competing at the supermajor level—can provide an opportunity to compete in other aspects, including product capabilities, quality, and customer customization.

Because of the broad nature of the alternative energy spectrum, numerous opportunities exist for niche plays, and when leveraged effectively, smaller energy companies are better positioned to expand and own market share of target service offerings and grow customer retention. Niche players also can be asked by larger established players to partner with them.

6. Consider being a pure‑play.

Investors want to see a focus on the alternative energy space. While diversifying energy portfolios is an effective strategy for entering new markets, centering your business strategy and service offerings around renewables can have significantly greater returns. As demand for renewables grows and regulatory policies support them, new jobs and opportunities to capitalize on the shift and innovation in technology will rise.

Overall, most investors are looking for companies that are “all-in” on the future alternative energy transition and can ensure that their financial resources aren’t directed towards assets that are experiencing decreased demand or into a sector they wish not to sponsor. This allows stockholders to feel more secure in their assets and have stronger predictability on their returns in the near- and long-term.

7. Leverage information technology.

Cost-effective, middle-market focused information technology (IT) solutions are more available, and can allow energy companies to better manage a growing business and automate processes. Through the use of technology, companies can make informed decisions and improve workplace efficiencies such as eliminating repetitive actions through automation, or using artificial intelligence (AI) to identify concepts to apply to decision making around energy production and consumer forecasts. Technology is providing increased capabilities for virtual collaboration, bespoke operational and financial metrics, and integrated real-time information.

However, with more digital enablers comes a magnified need to ensure proper cyber security. Digital threats and bad actors have always been at play, but since the increased digital dependence COVID-19 spurred, these threats have increased in both frequency and severity. This risk underlines the importance of having proper protections and procedures in place to guard your intellectual property and stop hackers before a breach occurs.

With investor interest focusing on renewable energy companies, the opportunities for financial growth are widespread. Whether you’re a start-up energy company or a traditional oil and gas or power gen player, it’s important to leverage competitive differentiators, increase your resiliency and enable market expansion to stand out from the crowd. Done effectively, energy companies can ensure continued investor interest, and harvest both financial and environmental gains of the energy transition.

This article originally appeared as a BDO USA, P.A.’s “Natural Resources” alert (April 2021). Copyright © 2021 BDO USA, P.A.. All rights reserved. www.bdo.com

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In a closely held business, ownership always means far more than business value. Valuing your business will put a dollar figure on your business (and with any luck, it might even be accurate!). However, ownership of a business is about much more than the “number.” To many of our clients, ownership is about identity, personal fulfillment, developing a legacy, funding their lifestyle, and much more. What does business ownership mean to you? In our final article in this series, we are going to look at questions around what ownership means to different people, explore how to increase business value and liquidity, and discuss the decision of whether to grow your business or exit—and which liquidity options are available for each path. 

While it may seem counterintuitive, we find that it is best to delay the decision to grow or exit until the very end of the value acceleration process. After identifying and implementing business improvement and de-risking projects in the Discover stage and the Prepare stage (see below), people may find themselves more open to the idea of keeping their business and using that business to build liquidity while they explore other options. 

Once people have completed the Discover and Prepare stages and are ready to decide whether to exit or grow their business, we frame the conversation around personal and business readiness. Many personal readiness factors relate to what ownership means to each client. In this process, clients ask themselves the following questions:

  • Am I ready to not be in charge?
  • Am I ready to not be identified as the business?
  • Do I have a plan for what comes next?
  • Do I have the resources to fund what’s next? 
  • Have I communicated my plan?

On the business end, readiness topics include the following:

  • Is the team in place to carry on without me?
  • Do all employees know their role?
  • Does the team know the strategic plan?
  • Have we minimized risk? 
  • Have I communicated my plan?

Whether you choose to grow your business or exit it, you have various liquidity options to choose from. Liquidity options if you keep your business include 401(k) profit sharing, distributions, bonuses, and dividend recapitalization. Alternatively, liquidity options if you choose to exit your business include selling to strategic buyers, ESOPs, private equity firms, management, or family. 

When it comes to liquidity, there are several other topics clients are curious about. One of these topics is the use of earn-outs in the sale of a business. In an earn-out, a portion of the price of the business is suspended, contingent on business performance. The “short and sweet” on this topic is that we typically find them to be most effective over a two- to three-year time period. When selecting a metric to base the earn-out on (such as revenue, profit, or customer retention), consider what is in your control. Will the new owner change the capital structure or cost structure in a way that reduces income? Further, if the planned liquidity event involves merging your company into another company, specify how costs will be allocated for earn-out purposes. 

Rollover equity (receiving equity in the acquiring company as part of the deal structure) and the use of warrants/synthetic equity (incentives tied to increases in stock price) is another area in which we receive many questions from clients. Some key considerations:

  • Make sure you know how you will turn your rollover equity into cash.
  • Understand potential dilution of your rollover equity if the acquiring company continues to acquire other targets. 
  • Make sure the percentage of equity relative to total deal consideration is reasonable.
  • Seller financing typically has lower interest rates and favorable terms, so warrants are often attached to compensate the seller. 
  • Warrants are subject to capital gains tax while synthetic equity is typically ordinary income. As a result, warrants often have lower tax consequences.
  • Synthetic equity may work well for long-term incentive plans and for management buyouts. 

We have found that through the value acceleration process, clients are able to increase business value and liquidity, giving them control over how they spend their time and resources.

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations. 

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Decide: Value acceleration series part five (of five)

So far in our value acceleration article series, we have talked about increasing the value of your business and building liquidity into your life starting with taking inventory of where you are at and aligning values, reducing risk, and increasing intangible value.

In this article, we are going to focus on planning and execution. How these action items are introduced and executed may be just as important as the action items themselves. We still need to protect value before we can help it grow. Let’s say you had a plan, a good plan, to sell your business and start a new one. Maybe a bed-and-breakfast on the coast? You’ve earmarked the 70% in cash proceeds to bolster your retirement accounts. The remaining 30% was designed to generate cash for the down payment on the bed-and-breakfast. And it is stuck in escrow or, worse yet, tied to an earn-out. Now, the waiting begins. When do you get to move on to the next phase? After all that hard work in the value acceleration process, you still didn’t get where you wanted to go. What went wrong?

Many business owners stumble at the end because they lack a master plan that incorporates their business action items and personal action items. Planning and execution in the value acceleration process was the focus of our conversation with a group of business owners and advisors on Thursday, April 11th.

Business valuation master plan steps to take

A master plan should include both business actions and personal actions. We uncovered a number of points that resonated with business owners in the room. Almost every business owner has some sort of action item related to employees, whether it’s hiring new employees, advancing employees into new roles, or helping employees succeed in their current roles. A review of financial practices may also benefit many businesses. For example, by revisiting variable vs. fixed costs, companies may improve their bidding process and enhance profitability. 

Master plan business improvement action items:

  • Customer diversification and contract implementation
  • Inventory management
  • Use of relevant metrics and dashboards
  • Financial history and projections
  • Systems and process refinement

A comprehensive master plan should also include personal action items. Personal goals and objectives play a huge role in the actions taken by a business. As with the hypothetical bed-and-breakfast example, personal goals may influence your exit options and the selected deal structure. 

Master plan personal action items:

  •  Family involvement in the business
  •  Needs vs. wants
  •  Development of an advisory team
  •  Life after planning

A master plan incorporates all of the previously identified action items into an implementation timeline. Each master plan is different and reflects the underlying realities of the specific business. However, a practical framework to use as guidance is presented below.

The value acceleration process requires critical thinking and hard work. Just as important as identifying action items is creating a process to execute them effectively. Through proper planning and execution, we help our clients not only become wealthier but to use their wealth to better their lives. 

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations. 

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Planning and execution: Value acceleration series part four (of five)

What are the top three areas of improvement right now for your business? In this third article of our series, we will focus on how to increase business value by aligning values, decreasing risk, and improving what we call the “four C’s”: human capital, structural capital, social capital, and consumer capital.

To back up for a minute, value acceleration is the process of helping clients increase the value of their business and build liquidity into their lives. Previously, we looked at the Discover stage, in which business owners take inventory of their personal, financial, and business goals and assemble information into a prioritized action plan. Here, we are going to focus on the Prepare stage of the value acceleration process.

Aligning values may sound like an abstract concept, but it has a real world impact on business performance and profitability. For example, if a business has multiple owners with different future plans, the company can be pulled in two competing directions. Another example of poor alignment would be if a shareholder’s business plans (such as expanding the asset base to drive revenue) compete with personal plans (such as pulling money out of the business to fund retirement). Friction creates problems. The first step in the Prepare stage is therefore to reduce friction by aligning values.

Reducing risk

Personal risk creates business risk, and business risk creates personal risk. For example, if a business owner suddenly needs cash to fund unexpected medical bills, planned business expansion may be delayed to provide liquidity to the owner. If a key employee unexpectedly quits, the business owner may have to carve time away from their personal life to juggle new responsibilities. 

Business owners should therefore seek to reduce risk in their personal lives, (e.g., life insurance, use of wills, time management planning) and in their business, (e.g., employee contracts, customer contracts, supplier and customer diversification).

Intangible value and the four C's

Now more than ever, the value of a business is driven by intangible value rather than tangible asset value. One study found that intangible asset value made up 87% of S&P 500 market value in 2015 (up from 17% in 1975). Therefore, we look at how to increase business value by increasing intangible asset value and, specifically, the four C’s of intangible asset value: human capital, structural capital, social capital, and consumer capital. 

Here are two ways you can increase intangible asset value. First of all, do a cost-benefit analysis before implementing any strategies to boost intangible asset value. Second, to avoid employee burnout, break planned improvements into 90-day increments with specific targets.

At BerryDunn, we often diagram company performance on the underlying drivers of the 4 C’s (below). We use this tool to identify and assess the areas for greatest potential improvements:

By aligning values, decreasing risk, and improving the four C’s, business owners can achieve a spike in cash flow and business value, and obtain liquidity to fund their plans outside of their business.

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations.

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The four C's: Value acceleration series part three (of five)

This is our second of five articles addressing the many aspects of business valuation. In the first article, we presented an overview of the three stages of the value acceleration process (Discover, Prepare, and Decide). In this article we are going to look more closely at the Discover stage of the process.

In the Discover stage, business owners take inventory of their personal, financial, and business goals, noting ways to increase alignment and reduce risk. The objective of the Discover stage is to gather data and assemble information into a prioritized action plan, using the following general framework.

Every client we have talked to so far has plans and priorities outside of their business. Accordingly, the first topic in the Discover stage is to explore your personal plans and how they may affect business goals and operations. What do you want to do next in your personal life? How will you get it done?

Another area to explore is your personal financial plan, and how this interacts with your personal goals and business plans. What do you currently have? How much do you need to fund your other goals?

The third leg of the value acceleration “three-legged stool” is business goals. How much can the business contribute to your other goals? How much do you need from your business? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your business? How do these compare to other businesses? How can business value be enhanced? A business valuation can help you to answer these questions.

A business valuation can clarify the standing of your business regarding the qualities buyers find attractive. Relevant business attractiveness factors include the following:

  • Market factors, such as barriers to entry, competitive advantages, market leadership, economic prosperity, and market growth
  • Forecast factors, such as potential profit and revenue growth, revenue stream predictability, and whether or not revenue comes from recurring sources
  • Business factors, such as years of operation, management strength, customer loyalty, branding, customer database, intellectual property/technology, staff contracts, location, business owner reliance, marketing systems, and business systems

Your company’s performance in these areas may lead to a gap between what your business is worth and what it could be worth. Armed with the information from this assessment, you can prepare a plan to address this “value gap” and look toward your plans for the future.

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations.

Next up in our value acceleration series is all about what we call the four C's of the value acceleration process. 

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The discover stage: Value acceleration series part two (of five)

This is the first article in our five-article series that reviews the art and science of business valuation. The series is based on an in-person program we offer from time to time.  

Did you know that just 12 months after selling, three out of four business owners surveyed “profoundly regretted” their decision? Situations like these highlight the importance of the value acceleration process, which focuses on increasing value and aligning business, personal, and financial goals. Through this process, business owners will be better prepared for business transitions, and therefore be significantly more satisfied with their decisions.

Here is a high-level overview of the value acceleration process. This process has three stages, diagrammed here:

The Discover stage is also called the “triggering event.” This is where business owners take inventory of their situation, focusing on risk reduction and alignment of their business, personal, and financial goals. The information gleaned in this stage is then compiled into a prioritized action plan utilized in future stages.

In the Prepare stage, business owners follow through on business improvement and personal/financial planning action items formed in the discover stage. Examples of action items include the following:

  • Addressing weaknesses identified in the Discover stage, in the business, or in personal financial planning
  • Protecting value through planning documents and making sure appropriate insurance is in place
  • Analyzing and prioritizing projects to improve the value of the business, as identified in Discover stage
  • Developing strategies to increase liquidity and retirement savings

The last stage in the process is the Decide stage. At this point, business owners choose between continuing to drive additional value into the business or to sell it.

Through the value acceleration process, we help business owners build value into their businesses and liquidity into their lives.

If you are interested in learning more about value acceleration, please contact the business valuation services team. We would be happy to meet with you, answer any questions you may have, and provide you with information on upcoming value acceleration presentations.

Read more! In our next installment of the value acceleration blog series, we cover the Discover stage.

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The process: Value acceleration series part one (of five)

Proposed House bill brings state income tax standards to the digital age

On June 3, 2019, the US House of Representatives introduced H.R. 3063, also known as the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act of 2019, which seeks to modernize tax laws for the sale of personal property, and clarify physical presence standards for state income tax nexus as it applies to services and intangible goods. But before we can catch up on today, we need to go back in time—great Scott!

Fly your DeLorean back 60 years (you’ve got one, right?) and you’ll arrive at the signing of Public Law 86-272: the Interstate Income Act of 1959. Established in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, P.L. 86-272 allows a business to enter a state, or send representatives, for the purposes of soliciting orders for the sale of tangible personal property without being subject to a net income tax.

But now, in 2019, personal property is increasingly intangible—eBooks, computer software, electronic data and research, digital music, movies, and games, and the list goes on. To catch up, H.R. 3063 seeks to expand on 86-272’s protection and adds “all other forms of property, services, and other transactions” to that exemption. It also redefines business activities of independent contractors to include transactions for all forms of property, as well as events and gathering of information.

Under the proposed bill, taxpayers meet the standards for physical presence in a taxing jurisdiction, if they:

  1.  Are an individual physically located in or have employees located in a given state; 
  2. Use the services of an agent to establish or maintain a market in a given state, provided such agent does not perform the same services in the same state for any other person or taxpayer during the taxable year; or
  3. Lease or own tangible personal property or real property in a given state.

The proposed bill excludes a taxpayer from the above criteria who have presence in a state for less than 15 days, or whose presence is established in order to conduct “limited or transient business activity.”

In addition, H.R. 3063 also expands the definition of “net income tax” to include “other business activity taxes”. This would provide protection from tax in states such as Texas, Ohio and others that impose an alternate method of taxing the profits of businesses.

H.R. 3063, a measure that would only apply to state income and business activity tax, is in direct contrast to the recent overturn of Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a sales and use tax standard. Quill required a physical presence but was overturned by the decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. Since the Wayfair decision, dozens of states have passed legislation to impose their sales tax regime on out of state taxpayers without a physical presence in the state.

If enacted, the changes made via H.R. 3063 would apply to taxable periods beginning on or after January 1, 2020. For more information: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/3063/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr3063%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=2
 

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Back to the future: Business activity taxes!

A common pitfall for inbound sellers is applying the same concepts used to adopt “no tax” positions made for federal income tax purposes to determinations concerning sales and use tax compliance. Although similar conceptually, separate analyses are required for each determination.

For federal income tax purposes, inbound sellers that are selling goods to customers in the U.S. and do not have a fixed place of business or dependent agent in the U.S. have, traditionally, been able to rely on their country’s income tax treaty with the U.S. for “no tax” positions. Provided that the non-U.S. entity did not have a “permanent establishment” in the U.S., it was shielded from federal income tax and would have a limited federal income tax compliance obligation.

States, however, are generally not bound by comprehensive income tax treaties made with the U.S. Thus, non-U.S. entities can find themselves unwittingly subject to state and local sales and use tax compliance obligations even though they are protected from a federal income tax perspective. With recent changes in U.S. tax law, the burden of complying with sales and use tax filing and collection requirements has increased significantly.

Does your company have a process in place to deal with these new state and local tax compliance obligations?

What has changed? Wayfair—it’s got what a state needs

As a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., non-U.S. entities that have sales to customers in the U.S. may have unexpected sales and use tax filing obligations on a go-forward basis. Historically, non-U.S. entities did not have a sales and use tax compliance obligation when they did not have a physical presence in states where the sales occurred.

In Wayfair, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a state is no longer bound by the physical presence standard in order for it to impose its sales and use tax regime on entities making sales within the state. The prior physical presence standard was set forth in precedent established by the Supreme Court and was used to determine if an entity had sufficient connection with a state (i.e., nexus) to necessitate a tax filing and collection requirement.

Before the Wayfair ruling, an entity had to have a physical presence (generally either through employees or property located in a state) in order to be deemed to have nexus with the state. The Wayfair ruling overturned this precedent, eliminating the physical presence requirement. Now, a state can deem an entity to have nexus with the state merely for exceeding a certain level of sales or transactions with in-state customers. This is a concept referred to as “economic nexus.”

The Court in Wayfair determined that the state law in South Dakota providing a threshold of $100,000 in sales or more than 200 sale transactions occurring within the state is sufficient for economic nexus to exist with the state. This is good news for hard-pressed states and municipalities in search of more revenue. Since this ruling, there has been a flurry of new state legislation across the country. Like South Dakota, states are actively passing tax laws with similar bright-line tests to determine when entities have economic nexus and, therefore, a sales and use tax collection and filing requirement.

How this impacts non-U.S. entities

This can be a trap for non-U.S. entities making sales to customers in the U.S. Historically, non-U.S. entities lacking a U.S. physical presence generally only needed to navigate federal income tax rules.

Inbound sellers without a physical presence in the U.S. may have very limited experience with state and local tax compliance obligations. When considering all of the state and local tax jurisdictions that exist in the U.S. (according to the Tax Foundation there are more than 10,000 sales tax jurisdictions), the number of sales and use tax filing obligations can be significant. Depending on the level of sales activity within the U.S., a non-U.S. entity can quickly become inundated with the time and cost of sales and use tax compliance.

Next steps

Going forward, non-U.S. entities selling to customers in the U.S. should be aware of those states that have economic nexus thresholds and adopt procedures so they are prepared for their sales and use tax compliance obligations in real time. These tax compliance obligations will generally require an entity to register to do business in the state, collect sales tax from customers, and file regular tax returns, usually monthly or quarterly.

It is important to note when an entity has an obligation to collect sales tax, it will be liable for any sales tax due to a state, regardless of whether the sales tax is actually collected from the customer. It is imperative to stay abreast of these complex legislative changes in order to be compliant.

At BerryDunn, our tax professionals work with a number of non-U.S. companies that face international, state, and local tax issues. If you would like to discuss your particular circumstances, contact one of the experienced professionals in our state and local tax (“SALT”) practice.

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Sales & use tax: A potential trap for non-U.S. entities