Managing State Income and Franchise Tax Audits

Audits are adversarial proceedings. So it's virtually guaranteed at some point during a state income or franchise tax audit, the auditor and your company will disagree about how much income should be apportioned to that state, whether your company has provided adequate documentation and made timely appeals, among other common points of contention.

A corporate tax department is best equipped to face this challenge with advance warning of what the other side expects -- competitive intelligence to help plan for a smooth audit about which both sides can be happy.

Listen to our panel of state income tax auditors from a mix of larger and mid-sized states evaluate corporate audits from their side of the aisle.

You'll find out how audit supervisors think companies can help ensure a well-run audit and what mistakes they absolutely don't like to see repeated. You'll get their insights on:

• Auditors' expectations and standards
• Measures taxpayers can take to help move audits along smoothly
• Mistakes and missteps by taxpayers that raise the ire of an auditor
• Behavior and poor documentation the auditors simply will not tolerate

Our panel includes:

Gary Dullum, Franchise Tax Specialist, Texas Comptroller's Office. During his career with the state, he has also held positions in sales tax and computer audits and microcomputer support. He previously worked for H&R Block as a tax preparer and instructor for 27 years.

Mark McCallum, Field Division Regional Manager, Kentucky Revenue Department. He trains employees on corporate income and license taxes among others. He has worked with the department for 18 years in the compliance and field divisions and the general counsel's office.

Michael Tharpe is a revenue audit supervisor with the Illinois Revenue Department’s corporate income tax division. He’s a 29-year veteran of the department, most of which has been spent on income tax. Michael also has served as a lead instructor for department training programs.

Karolyn Bishop, Field Audit Manager - Out-of-State North, Washington State Department of Revenue - Audit Division. Ms. Bishop joined the out-of-state audit program of the Washington State Department of Revenue in 1994 as a revenue auditor. From 1994 until 1999, Ms. Bishop was responsible for providing audit coverage in the Chicago, Illinois area. In 2000, Ms. Bishop was promoted to the position of Field Audit Manager and is responsible for managing the out-of-state field audit program in the Great Lakes region.

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