By Brian Lester | August 2, 2016 | Category: Aircraft Purchase and Sale

Learn How Individual Flight Departments Get Fleet Pricing

Aero & Marine Tax Professionals are the preeminent experts in California sales tax involving airplanes, vehicles or vessels. We can show you how to avoid sales tax and to make certain the full value of your next aircraft, vehicle or vessel goes in your pocket–not the Government’s.

At Aero & Marine Tax Professionals we pride ourselves in having a perfect record of success. Every one of our over 1,300 clients has saved thousands or even hundreds of thousands on their aircraft or vessel purchases.

Part of our success stems from researching decades of decisions and recommendations by the California Board of Equalization (BOE). From this research and learning every possible way someone could avoid paying sales and use tax, we created a full-proof checklist. We apply 100% of the points of that checklist to every one of our customers. As a result, there isn’t any way for a client of ours to fail to win their exemption.

We immerse ourselves in each case and follow-up until complete, constantly maintaining two-way communication with the client to ensure compliance on all counts.

We gather information on an interactive basis and perform all of the documentation in real time. In this manner, we make sure the client is complying with all the steps, and it also avoids any misunderstandings. We prepare a tax return, run it through a series of internal reviews, and then make the submission to the BOE.

The same methodical practices are also required when obtaining exemptions for common carrier clients, an especially important service since most air carrier executives and flight department managers initially rely upon the false belief that “Part 135″ will obviate the need to deal with the California BOE. While Part 135 is referenced in federal regulations, it is not mentioned in the California code. Instead, California Regulations 6366 and 6366.1 pertain to aircraft sold or leased to common carriers. These sections do offer legal exemptions. However, the law requires the longest test period (12 months), during which time extremely detailed documentation must be maintained: log books, flight plans, weight and moment sheets, customer revenue billings, a complete copy of engine maintenance logs showing total hours since date of purchase, and more. Every single flight is examined, and one mistake can trigger the entire tax. It takes precise guidance from an expert to guarantee compliance and avoid the sales tax.

WE DEAL WITH THE “BOE” FOR YOU

Of all the services that Aero & Marine provides, the most appreciated by clients, and those that refer them, is the fact that we insert ourselves between the client and the BOE staff.

A client of ours never has to talk to the auditors. Once we get a letter of authorization, then the board has to talk to us. When you understand how the word ‘tax audit’ affects the spine of most human beings, this helps a lot.

The whole process culminates with receipt by the client, of a letter from the BOE stating that the exemption on the aircraft tax has been supported–something we obtain every time.