ARGO Finds Sales Tax Solutions from CCH CorpSystem Save Time, Increase Accuracy and Confidence

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., December 7, 2009) – A case study of ARGO International Corporation shows how adoption of CorpSystem Sales Tax Office and Sales Tax Returns Online from CCH can save time, increase accuracy and, perhaps most important, increase confidence that a necessary task is being done well. CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business is a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services (CCHGroup.com). To read the case study, click here.

ARGO distributes mechanical and electrical products to industrial customers through mail order. With 2008 sales of $90 million, the company does business worldwide, but keeping up with changing state sales tax rates and regulations in the United States was causing the company headaches each month.

The problem was especially acute for sales tax in the states of Louisiana and Washington, where local governments – Louisiana parishes and Washington counties – could all set their own sales tax rates.

“As a mail-order business, we are required to comply with the tax rate present at the point of delivery – the customer site,” explained Franz Kistner, Director of Information Technologies at ARGO International. “With the potential of having two different tax rates on opposite sides of the same street, we were finding ourselves spending a great deal of time keeping track of rate changes and ironing out sales tax errors or discrepancies with customers. What’s more, it was difficult to have 100 percent confidence that we had the correct sales tax information in the first place.”

ARGO sought a solution that would assure them of accurate rates for every locality, eliminate penalties and slash the time needed to prepare and file monthly returns. They found what they needed in CCH’s CorpSystem Sales Tax Office for real-time tax calculation and logging of transactions for end-of-month liability reporting, coupled with Sales Tax Returns Online for automatic filing and forms management.

Since implementing the CCH solutions, ARGO has:

• Cut the time required to complete the returns from two days to a few hours, including review and sign-off;
• Completed all returns within the first week of each month;
• Avoided all late fees; and
• Reduced customer sales tax complaints from previous levels of up to 20 per month to zero.

“Going with CCH has freed our staff to focus on more strategic areas of the business,” Kistner said. “It’s important that we be in compliance with state and local laws, but it’s simply not feasible for our small staff to go through every single new tax law. Being able to leverage CCH’s expertise helped us automate and improve what was once a difficult process. Perhaps even more importantly, we now have the confidence in our data and process. That confidence and peace-of-mind is extremely reassuring.”

For More Information

For information on CCH CorpSystem sales and use tax solutions, call 1-866-513-2677 or visit salestax.com.

About CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business (CCHGroup.com) is a leading provider of tax, accounting and audit information, software and services. It has served tax, accounting and business professionals since 1913. Among its market-leading products are The ProSystem fx® Suite, CCH® TeamMate, CorpSystem®, CCH® IntelliConnect™, Accounting Research Manager® and the U.S. Master Tax Guide®. CCH is based in Riverwoods, Ill.

Wolters Kluwer is a leading global information services and publishing company. The company provides products and services for professionals in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal, and regulatory sectors. Wolters Kluwer had 2008 annual revenues of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 35 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Visit www.wolterskluwer.com for information about our market positions, customers, brands, and organization.

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