Client
A Leading Global Food Manufacturing Company
Industry
Food Manufacturing
Project Timeframe
June 2022 - Current
Revenew Services
Sales Tax & Use Recovery
Project Scope
Our client is a large multinational company with $50 billion in US revenue alone. It operates in 34 states, each of which has its own unique sales tax laws and regulations. Because of its size and the number of tax consultants it had already engaged, our client felt confident that its tax filings were being carried out correctly. To validate its work thus far, the client engaged Revenew for its Sales Tax and Use Recovery Services on a no-risk contingency model, expecting to only find about a couple million in potential refunds, if anything.
Revenew’s Approach
In June 2022, Revenew began the auditing process for the client’s operations.
- The team extracted data from the past three years, including purchase orders, accounts payable, and tax accrual data for operations in all relevant states.
- With all the necessary data, Revenew began the reconciliation process, comparing invoices to what was filed.
- Food manufacturers face high infrastructure costs for equipment and supplies but often receive various state sales tax breaks as incentives.
- Recent state law changes in various states have increased available incentives for manufacturers
- Revenew leveraged deep knowledge of these laws and updates across multiple states.
- The team explored legal ambiguous areas to secure more favorable outcomes for the client’s refund.
Outcomes
Based on the audit in the first state, Revenew identified a high incidence of overpaid sales tax. After an initial presentation of the team’s audit findings, the client quickly expanded Revenew’s scope of work to provide Sales Tax and Use Recovery services in several other states.
The claim submitted to the first state came back with a 100% approval rate for the client’s refund, and similar trends followed across the seven remaining states. All in all, Revenew found nearly $34 million in potential recoveries for the client and worked quickly to file for it—as the statute of limitations meant that every month that elapsed represented at least a million dollars lost.