HISTORY OF A&T CONSULTANTS INC.

Business Focus

A&T Consultants Inc. begin business in March of 1987 by Troy Harrison, who was a tax auditor for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts from 1977 to 1987. Mr. Harrison who has completed hundreds of tax audits for the State Comptroller's Office, primarily in the areas of Texas sales & use taxes, Texas franchise tax, and Texas severance taxes. By late 1988, Dennis Dockery was employed by A&T and since has helped many businesses with their Texas taxes. Mr. Dockery and Mr. Harrison have help hundreds of businesses by examining taxpayer records for over-paid taxes, filing refund claims, managing audits, and handling audit disputes including through the Texas Administrative Hearings process.

Severance Tax Recoveries

In the beginning A&T focused primarily on recovery of Texas Severance Taxes, a tax paid by oil and gas producers. Mr. Harrison had noted that many oil and gas producers were due severance tax refunds because they had not taken their marketing costs deductions. Many of the smaller producers and some larger producers did not have the staff or the knowledge to meet the requirements in filing for their severance tax marketing costs refund.

Franchise Tax Recoveries

By 1988, the State of Texas had lost a major court case regarding how Texas franchise taxes could be calculated which resulted in many major corporations having tax refunds due their firms. At that time, many companies did not have state tax departments and the major accounting firms that handled their Federal taxes had limit state tax departments. In addition, some firms lacked personnel with Texas franchise tax knowledge or experience.

Recoveries for Major Corporation

A&T begin contacting companies and asking to handle their Texas franchise tax refund claims. Initially, most companies said they would file the claim themselves. But then when the deadlines for filing were about to expire, they hired A&T to handle their claim. The Law change allowed companies to compute their franchise tax differently than originally filed which resulted in refunds for many large companies. In most cases, A&T would have the companies fax copies of their documents to A&T and A&T would prepare and file the refund claim, and then represent the refund claim at the time of audit.

Completed Audit Recoveries

In the early 1990's, A&T began contacting firms to examine their business tax reporting for overpayment of sales and franchise taxes. Initially, A&T targeted certain industries that were as group had high probability of overpaying sales and franchise taxes.

During this period, A&T begin assisting businesses with reducing their completed sales tax audits. A&T would review completed audits for errors in applying sales tax to transactions and disputing the audit method used. At the time, A&T requested lists of businesses that were going to be audited and taxpayers whose audits had been completed. The list indicated the businesses with the greatest probability of having a need for A&T's service.

Obtain Lists of Audits In-Progress and Completed Audits

By 1994, the Comptroller quit providing any taxpayer audit information. The Comptroller concluded the information was not public information per their interpretation of the Texas Open Records Law. A&T challenged the Comptroller on the issue by asking the State's attorney, Texas Attorney General (AG), to rule on the issue.

Open Records Decision

The Texas Attorney General issues opinions on the law, which the state agencies are to follow. In this case, the AG Opinion ruled the information A&T was requesting was public information. The Comptroller at the time, John Sharp, continued to disagree and appealed the Decision directly to the Texas Supreme Court. The Supreme Court concurred with A&T that the information was public information. You can obtain more information by Googling the Decision - Google "A&T Consultants Inc v. Sharp." Today, many tax firms requests this information to assist taxpayers with their audits and to perform audit reviews.

Managed Audit Experience

Since about 2000, A&T has placed added emphasis on assisting companies with managing their sales tax audits. A&T was the first Texas tax firm who made a concerted effort at pursuing small businesses who have limited state tax personnel to manage their Texas sales tax audits. The State of Texas have been looking more and more to their tax audits to close the State's budget shortfall. As result, the Comptroller has become much more aggressive in assessing taxes.

Use Tax Examinations Experience

Another issue that has made it more difficult for businesses, the State started taxing some services, not just goods, by the early 1990s. In addition, the Comptroller had auditors place substantially more emphasis on auditing purchases for use taxes. Prior to the 1990s, the Texas auditors spend very little time examining a business' purchases for additional sales taxes. Today, the auditors spend as much time examining expense purchases for unreported use tax as they do for sales tax.

A&T has substantial Texas Sales and Franchise Tax Experience

A&T's CPAs, Troy Harrison and Dennis Dockery, have a long history of assisting businesses in meeting its burden of serving as the state's tax collectors and complying with the Texas tax laws, recovering their tax over payments, and managing their tax audits.

Call today ……….(713)388-6645 or (806)352-0900 for a consultation to determine if your firms need the services offered by A&T's consultants, Troy Harrison and Dennis Dockery.