Martin Silver, PS

Attorney at Law

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FEDERAL CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS FACE BIG SALES TAX TRAPS

August 14, 2021 by Martin Silver

     August, 2021.       I have not seen the DOR do a worse job of explaining any sales tax law than how the sales tax applies to federal construction contracts, especially contracts for military construction.  And that can create traps for developers and contractors, especially sub contractors.      This situation is particularly… CONTINUE

Filed Under: Audits, State Audits, State Tax Appeals, Washington Department of Revenue

PROVING WHOLESALES IN AUDIT WITHOUT RESELLER PERMIT

July 2, 2021 by Martin Silver

    This article, about wholesales in audit, is an UPDATE to the article I posted October 16, 2014, entitled “Taking a Washington State Reseller Permit not the Only Way to Qualify for Wholesale Reporting.” In that article I discussed that the DOR’s published rule, WAC 458-20-102, provides an alternative method for a seller to… CONTINUE

Filed Under: Audits, State Audits, State Tax Appeals, State Tax News, Washington Department of Revenue

Update on Washington State & FBA Nexus and Amazon Announcement to Start Collecting Washington Sales Tax on Third Party Online Sales

November 21, 2017 by Martin Silver

We have received a lot of calls over the past few months from out of state online retailers who were contacted by Washington’s Department of Revenue (DOR).  DOR asserted that these retailers must start collecting Washington state sales tax (WSST) on their sales made to customers residing in Washington state if they owned inventory stored… CONTINUE

Filed Under: State Audits, State Tax News, Tax News, Washington Department of Revenue Tagged With: audi, audit, retail sales tax, Washington State sales tax

IRS Collection Letters are Confusing (and probably intended to be)

April 9, 2017 by Martin Silver

Under law adopted by Congress about 20 years ago the IRS must follow a lock step procedure before it can begin enforced collection actions such as garnishment on wages, bank accounts, receivables and seizure of all other types of property.  One of the most urgent type of call our office gets is one from an… CONTINUE

Filed Under: Federal Tax Appeals, Internal Revenue Service, Tax Appeals

Careless Payments Cost Business Washington Sales Tax

July 5, 2016 by Martin Silver

How the money runs can alter whether a payment that is ordinarily not subject to retail sales tax becomes subject to the tax.  Architecture and design fees, for example, are normally classified for B & O purposes under the service classification and service providers do not have to collect retail.  But where, for example, a… CONTINUE

Filed Under: State Audits, State Tax Appeals, Tax News, Washington Department of Revenue

Rare Taxpayer Win on Washington State Successorship Liability

July 5, 2016 by Martin Silver

In a recent blog posted to this site (May 6, 2016) we discussed the risk in purchasing a business without understanding Washington’s successorship liability law.  A new Department of Revenue appeals decision released June 24, 2016, is a surprising taxpayer success, and one which should be read and studied by anyone facing a possible successor… CONTINUE

Filed Under: Business & Corporate Taxation, State Audits, State Tax Appeals

Buying or Selling a Small Business? Don’t Overlook Washington’s Iron Fisted Successor Liability

May 6, 2016 by Martin Silver

Washington State Small Business Attorney, Martin Silver Can Help. Many years ago we represented several local waste disposal businesses that were bought out by large national firms.  The price was negotiated by the parties, and the contracts were largely written by national law firms and given to the seller and to me for review and… CONTINUE

Filed Under: State Audits, State Tax News, Tax News

How Washington Revenue Imposes Sales Tax on Architectural and Design Services

April 30, 2016 by Martin Silver

Washington State Tax Lawyer, Martin Silver Can Help. Unlike the Federal income tax Washington’s tax system is not based on a uniform tax on net income derived from all sources:  it is a gross receipts tax with rates dependent on what classification an activity fits into.  Moreover, a business may perform several different activities which… CONTINUE

Filed Under: State Audits, State Tax Appeals, State Tax News, Tax News Tagged With: retail sales tax, service income, Washington State sales tax

Washington “Zapper” Criminal Prosecution – Use of Zapper May Have Tipped off Auditors to Unreported Cash Sales

February 25, 2016 by Martin Silver

The Department of Revenue announced on its website on February 5, 2016, that the state had filed charges against the owner of Facing East, a Bellevue restaurant, alleging among other charges the use of sales suppression software to hide cash transactions, and “pocketing  nearly $395,000 in sales tax collected from her patrons.” Revenue has for… CONTINUE

Filed Under: State Audits, State Tax News, Tax News Tagged With: audit, criminal prosecution, detection, sales suppression software, zapper

Washington State Seen as Prosecuting for Failure to Remit Smaller Amounts of Sales Tax.

December 1, 2015 by Martin Silver

We reprint in full below a report of a criminal conviction published on the Department of Revenue’s website. We do so because the amount of restitution ordered, some $41,000,  indicates that the amount of sales tax collected but not remitted was fairly small (we have participated in audits where no criminal charge occurred even though… CONTINUE

Filed Under: Business & Corporate Taxation, State Tax News, Tax News

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About Martin Silver, P.S.

Licensed to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and Washington State and Federal Courts.

Widely recognized authority and lecturer in State, Local and IRS tax matters.

Author of Washington Taxes: Representing Taxpayers Before the Washington Department of Revenue (Butterworth Publishing, 1992), and numerous articles.

"AV" rated by Martindale-Hubbell, the nation's most recognized legal directory.

Contact Us

Martin Silver, P.S.
1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3000
Seattle, WA 98101-2393

(206) 224-3461 phone
(206) 224-3459 fax
msilver@wolfenet.com

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1420 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3000, Seattle, WA 98101-2393 | Phone: (206) 224-3461 | Fax: (206) 224-3459 | Email
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