Speaking Engagement

2023 Sales Tax Conference & Audit Session

Blank Rome State + Local Tax partners Nicole L. Johnson and Craig B. Fields will serve as speakers at the Council on State Taxation’s (“COST”) 2023 Sales Tax Conference & Audit Session, which will be held February 21 through 24, 2023, in Denver, Colorado.

The conference will feature presentations on the most recent transactional tax developments, initiatives, and case law topics and is targeted to sales and use tax professionals at all levels of experience. It includes breakouts that are specific, in-depth discussions for maximum coverage of timely sales and use tax issues and transactional tax audit sessions, providing an exchange of information on legislative, audit, judicial, and regulatory issues.

Nicole will speak at the “Successfully Handling Difficult Sales Tax Audits” breakout session on Wednesday, February 22, at 11:10 a.m. The session will cover preparing to handle a major sales/use tax audits, with a focus on audit preparation, audit management, and post-audit strategies, including negotiating with an auditor or supervisor and presenting your position at subsequent administrative hearings. Additional subtopics include document management, preliminary testing and sampling methods and procedures, and workpaper review.

Craig’s session, “Outside Counsel—A Valuable Resource—Maximize the Value,” will take place from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. on Friday, February 24, and the panel will provide an update on the Multistate Power of Attorney (“POA”) project and how that may help to streamline the POA process for multistate taxpayers. Panelists will also discuss why confidentiality should be top of the mind when outsourcing your SALT function, traps for the unwary, and how to ensure confidentiality isn’t blown at the end of the day. Finally, the panel will discuss the best practices for managing all of those contracts that may overlap.

Blank Rome is pleased to be a sponsor of the Conference.

For additional information and to register, please visit the event webpage.