CRE Finds Gross Receipts Taxing

SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco is in the midst of transitioning from a payroll tax, previously its main source of tax revenue, to one favored by many other large cities—a tax on gross sales, with a February filing deadline looming ahead and significant penalties for non-compliance, according to Lillian Chen and Ken Huang, CPAs with Moss Adams LLP, in this EXCLUSIVE to GlobeSt.com.

But the multi-year phase-in of changes have proved confusing, particularly to developers and investors who are susceptible to mistakes because of the inherent complexity of real estate ownership structures. With full transition to a tax based on gross receipts set for 2018, real estate companies are carefully analyzing how the increasing levels of taxation affects activities and revenue planning. For example, the tax on gross revenue derived from residential real estate differs from tax on gross revenue from commercial real estate.