In this episode of the SALTovation podcast, we speak with Joe Geiger, Tax Consulting Manager at Vertex, Inc., and our very own Judy Vorndran. Joe has been with the company for over 15 years and has more than 25 years of experience with income, sales, use and other taxes, with particular expertise in tax appeals, audit controversies and reverse audits. Joe discusses business acquisitions and previews the upcoming event on April 8 with Judy and State and Local Tax Director Stacey Roberts about the sales and use tax implications. He also shares his thoughts on the future of sales tax automation.

Questions asked and answered in this Episode:

• How did Joe get his start at Vertex, Inc.?
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• What has kept Joe at Vertex, Inc.. all these years? 
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• How does he think taxpayers perceive sales tax?
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• Has he seen a change with the type of consumer?
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• Has he seen an increase in inquiries since the Wayfair case?
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• What will be talked about at the upcoming event, Sales and Use Tax Implications of Business Acquisitions? Why is this an important topic to speak on? Who is the target audience?
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• Does Joe recieve work from companies that have bought another company?
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• Where does he think the future of sales tax automation is going? Does he think automation is going to replace people?
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What You Will Discover:

• [00:45] Joe’s career trajectory
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• [04:21] What has kept Joe at Vertex, Inc. all these years
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• [08:47] How he thinks taxpayers perceive sales tax
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• [10:28] If he’s seen a change in consumers
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• [14:26] More on the upcoming event on business acquisitions
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• [21:26] The challenges with acquiring other companies
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• [27:56] Joe’s thoughts on the future of sales tax automation
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• [34:02] If he thinks automation will replace people
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• [38:08] A few fun facts about Joe
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Quotables:

• “I think a lot of taxpayers truly don’t understand sales tax. I think they pretty much look at it. They get a bill. They see sales tax, the percentage and the amount. They don’t realize what is truly taxable all the time.” - Joe Geiger [08:55]
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• “Is it easier to start up a company or to acquire one? Or if you have a company say, ‘Hey, I’m pretty comfortable in my marketplace,’ sooner or later, you’re going to start losing market share, ‘cause other companies are going to pass you by. So you want to be on the forefront and be a leader as opposed to sitting on what you have and being happy.” - Joe Geiger [16:45]
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• “There’s a lot to think about with a merger and acquisition because there’s so many different things that could go wrong, and sometimes it’ll actually delay a deal or even kill a deal.” - Joe Geiger [19:56]
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• “I think automation will always be prominent in the marketplace.” - Joe Geiger [28:19]
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• “One thing with machine learning is the more information you feed into the system, the better answer you're going to get.” - Joe Geiger [36:11]
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Relevant Links:

Website: https://www.vertexinc.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-geiger-8618bb17

Learn more and register for Sales and Use Tax Implications of Business Acquisitions: https://taxops.com/sales-and-use-tax-implications-of-business-acquisitions-cpe

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Production Support

This episode was produced with support from Truth Work Media. www.truthworkmedia.com

Mentioned in this episode:

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