After years of selling only in New Jersey, the company grew quickly in 2009. During the financial crisis, they helped automobile dealers survive through streamlined and efficient purchasing.
“New Jersey is a pretty cut-and-dry state from a sales tax point of view,” explains Chief Executive Officer Andrea Karsian. “We don’t have local or county sales tax. As we moved into New York and Pennsylvania, with their local and county taxes, as well as Connecticut, we needed to make sure that we filed if we had nexus.”
“We also needed to make sure that the filings were timely,” she adds, “because we’ve been hit with late penalties in the past.”
Adding to the increasing tax complexity, items sold by the company are taxed differently depending on location. For example, Andrea found that nitrile gloves worn by shop technicians might be taxable in one state and exempt in another. Within the same jurisdiction, the same item might be taxable for one use and exempt for another. “From what I’ve seen, use tax is a big issue for auditors,” says Andrea. “Our ability to manage that was really almost nonexistent.”
