Multi-State Tax and Nexus Services
Nexus reviews, sales and income tax registration, voluntary disclosure and state audit support for businesses selling or hiring across state lines.
You sell into other states, or someone on your team works from one, and you are not sure where you owe. You may owe more than you think. Since the Supreme Court’s 2018 Wayfair decision, states can require sales tax based on sales alone. A single remote employee can create income tax, payroll and registration obligations where they live. Many businesses learn this from a notice. Our job is to find out first.
Who this is for
- SaaS, e-commerce and wholesale businesses selling to customers in many states.
- Employers with remote staff, especially New Jersey companies with people in New York, Pennsylvania or Connecticut, and the reverse.
- Partnerships and S-Corps with owners in several states who need composite returns, nonresident withholding and pass-through entity tax elections.
- Companies preparing for a sale, investment or audit who need their state footprint cleaned up first.
What a nexus review covers
We map where you have physical presence (people, property, inventory) and economic presence (sales and transactions) state by state, then compare it to each state’s rules. Thresholds differ: New Jersey uses $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions, New York uses $500,000 in sales and more than 100 transactions, and most other states use $100,000 in sales. Income tax nexus follows its own rules again.
- A state-by-state exposure table for sales tax, income or franchise tax, and payroll.
- A taxability review of what you sell. Software, digital goods and services are taxed very differently from state to state.
- An estimate of back-period exposure, including tax, interest and likely penalties.
- A recommendation for each state: register now, file a voluntary disclosure, document a no-nexus position or monitor.
Fixing the past: voluntary disclosure
If you should have been filing somewhere and weren’t, a voluntary disclosure agreement usually limits the lookback to three or four years and waives most penalties. That option generally disappears once the state contacts you, so timing matters. We prepare the disclosures, negotiate the terms and file the back returns.
Staying compliant going forward
- Sales and use tax registration, filing calendars and marketplace-facilitator reconciliations.
- Income tax apportionment and multi-state returns for C-Corps, S-Corps and partnerships.
- Payroll registrations and withholding set-up for employees in new states.
- Composite returns, nonresident withholding and pass-through entity tax elections such as New Jersey’s BAIT and New York’s PTET.
- Quarterly threshold monitoring so a new state is flagged before it becomes a problem.
State audits
New Jersey and New York actively audit sales tax, income tax and residency. We represent clients in sales tax, income tax and residency audits, from the first information request to the final agreement, and we document positions during the year so an audit is a review of good records rather than a reconstruction.
Frequently asked questions
One employee works from home in another state. Does that create nexus?
Usually, yes, for payroll withholding and often for income tax as well. It depends on the state and on what the employee does. We review the role and the state’s rules and either register you or document why you don’t need to.
We sell through Amazon. Do we still have sales tax obligations?
Marketplace facilitator laws mean Amazon collects and remits sales tax on marketplace sales in most states, but those sales can still count toward your economic nexus thresholds, and your direct sales are your responsibility. Income tax nexus is a separate question.
How far back can a state go?
Without a filed return, there is generally no statute of limitations, so exposure can reach back to when nexus began. A voluntary disclosure typically limits it to three or four years.
How long does a nexus review take?
After the free strategy session, you receive an initial written analysis and engagement proposal within five business days. A full multi-state review is then scoped to the number of states involved and the data available.