OCA Audit Reports

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Issued: May 2005

SUMMARY

The purpose of this audit was to determine whether all businesses in Austin’s jurisdiction were allocated to the City of Austin in the State’s sales tax database and to review the City’s controls over the sales tax data.

Results of this audit show that some problems with allocation to the appropriate jurisdiction in the State Comptroller’s Office sales tax data are ongoing. Additionally, in our review of the sales tax collection and allocation process, we found that controls could be improved to ensure that businesses applying for sales tax permits are allocated to the appropriate taxing jurisdiction. The State Comptroller’s Office has indicated that they have an ongoing effort to implement an automated tax jurisdiction system to ensure that current and future business locations are correct.

From our testing of over 55,000 businesses, we identified 168 businesses within Austin’s jurisdiction that are currently not allocated to the City of Austin in the State Comptroller’s Office sales tax database. Since under State law the City is not allowed to access payment information related to individual businesses, the potential monetary impact cannot be determined. We have provided the list of the businesses identified to the State Comptroller’s Office for correction.

We have issued one recommendation intended to create compensating controls within the City to ensure that new businesses within Austin’s jurisdiction are properly allocated to the City in the State Comptroller’s Office sales tax database.

Download the entire text of our Sales Tax 2005: Data Reliability (Size: 1.23 MB) in Adobe Acrobat. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view these files. Or request a hard copy of this audit report, No. AU05102, by submitting this audit report request form.

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