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Salestax.com from CCH Is New Destination Site for Sales, Use Tax Professionals

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., January 25, 2005) – Sales and use tax professionals now have a destination site where they can find relevant news and everything else they need to make sales and use tax compliance as painless as possible, from the latest, most accurate data through integrated software tools that optimize how quickly and easily they can put that data to work. Salestax.com, from CCH Tax and Accounting (CCH), the nation’s premiere provider of tax and accounting productivity software, research and services, is for everyone involved in sales and use tax compliance, from taxing authorities to retailers, from storefronts to telecom giants (tax.cchgroup.com).

“People can’t avoid collecting and paying taxes, but they can minimize the time and trouble it takes to pay them when they rely on the industry leader in sales and use tax compliance,” said Kevin Robert, CEO for CCH Tax and Accounting. “At our site, users can find tools and data from CCH that will make all their sales and use tax-related operations smooth and integrated.”

Chart, Database Latest Examples of Innovative Products

The Customer Exemptions Smart Chart and the ZIPsales™ Database and Lookup for Restaurants are the two latest examples of the dozens of time-saving, focused solutions offered by CCH and featured at Salestax.com.

For telecommunications companies, the Customer Exemptions Smart Chart ends ad hoc, “all or nothing” treatment of tax exemptions. It accounts for 19 categories of telecommunications tax customers, from the federal government to Indian tribes to lifeline services, with 28 different tax types for all 50 states in an easy-to-use database. The 9,462 possible exemption situations are organized in a simple, easy-to-use chart. This means that with a few clicks, users can determine the exact taxable status for each customer and tax type in each jurisdiction and can also verify any certification requirements.

The ZIPsales™ Database and Lookup for Restaurants provides comprehensive coverage of restaurant products and services, from prepared food to beer, from cover charge to corkage, from coat check to parking – a dozen categories in all. What’s more, users can integrate the data right into their work processes with a minimum of programming. The data is mapped using multiple location criteria: ZIP code, ZIP + 4, FIPS geocode and state, county and city name. With this database at their fingertips, restaurateurs and the professionals who advise them no longer need to track or manually input taxability/exemption rules or rates into their systems.

“These are perfect examples of what every CCH sales and use tax product can do: maximize your compliance and minimize your effort,” said Mike Blandina, product manager for CCH.

For each product or service, visitors to Salestax.com can read and download product brochures, which include special system requirements and screen shots that amount to a mini product demo. In addition, visitors can launch a fully interactive demo of CertiTAX^TM, the CCH system that gives e-merchants – and traditional merchants who use the web to sell products and services – everything they need for processing sales taxes.

Current News, Information

Salestax.com is a source of current news and substantive information, as well. Visitors can read highlights of the current issue of Intelligence for Taxation – a monthly newsletter that delivers updates and breaking news on sales and use tax rates and taxability changes, gathered by CCH analysts and researchers. In addition, visitors are invited to sign up for regular e-mail delivery of the entire newsletter, free of charge.

For newcomers to the field, there is a sales tax FAQ and a thorough overview of sales taxation: Sales Tax Fundamentals. This covers topics such as: the authority of states and localities; types of sales tax; purchasers’ responsibility; retail sales; the true object test of tangible personal property; sales vs. use tax; tax base; sales tax exemptions; and the importance of due diligence.

“This is a great place to send novice employees for an orientation to the world of sales and use tax,” Blandina noted.

Salestax.com also provides a hub for logins to the CCH Tax Research NetWork^TM and CertiTAX, a contact point for sales and support, an extensive set of links to other useful sales tax sites and links to CCH Tax and Accounting’s partners: AbleCommerce, Intuit Eclipse, Miva and Smith Micro Software.

“We plan to grow this site so that it will be the logical first stop for anyone in sales and use tax, whenever they visit the web,” Blandina said.

About CCH Tax and Accounting

CCH Tax and Accounting (tax.cchgroup.com), based in Riverwoods, Ill., is a leading provider of tax, audit, and accounting information, software and services. It has served tax, accounting and business professionals and their clients since 1913. Among its market leading products are The ProSystem fx® Office, CCH® Tax Research NetWork™, Accounting Research Manager™ and the U.S. Master Tax Guide®. CCH Tax and Accounting is a Wolters Kluwer company. Wolters Kluwer is a leading multinational publisher and information services company.

Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2003) of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,750 people worldwide and maintains operations across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (www.wolterskluwer.com). Its depositary receipts of shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

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