Law firms periodically receive requests for advice from CPAs regarding a client’s need to come into compliance with the relatively new and sometimes confusing “economic nexus” or “Wayfair” rules for selling goods or providing services to customers in another state. Often, the client realized only recently they had a sales tax collection problem and are now hinting (or more) that their CPA firm should have either warned them or voluntarily stepped in to handle the new compliance issue. The most common responses heard from CPAs to these client complaints are, “You never asked us to look into the issue, and that’s beyond the scope of our engagement,” or “We thought you were … or someone else was … handling that for you.”

Originally published by The Tax Adviser - December 1, 2023.