Celebrating a Year of Excitement and Challenges
Today is the day that I contemplate the past and look to the future. Why August 6? It is the anniversary of YETTER Tax and the Sales Tax Institute! It was 24 years ago when it all started. It is hard to think about it being that long ago. Twenty-four years! I moved to Chicago when I was 24. It was exciting and new. Coming back to the city where I was born. Now as I celebrate 24 years of doing what I love, it is still exciting and there are still new things happening.
When I wrote last year, I talked about how it was probably the most momentous year since the company’s first. After all we had just completed a year of post Wayfair. Who would have thought that this year could have been even more momentous?
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned so many things upside down. But from a state revenue perspective, they are grateful that the “Wayfair money” was coming in. In most states, that isn’t enough to cover the losses from other revenue sources, so we expect to see more aggressive actions from the states.
Here at the Sales Tax Institute it has been a year with challenges but also excitement. This spring we learned to pivot (quickly) to convert our Advanced Sales Tax Workshop from an in-person class in San Diego to a virtual class. We had a smaller group that we had hoped, but it was a great class. We even had some fun virtual happy hours.
We learned a lot about the new approach to teaching, which made the conversion of our Basics of Sales Tax class to virtual a bit easier. We even had a student join us from Bucharest – all because we were virtual. I appreciate the companies that continue to support the needs of their employees for continued education during the turbulent times.
In the midst of the pandemic, the United States faced a time of awakening with the death of George Floyd. It was also an awakening for our team as we experienced the peaceful protests but also the violence. As a team, we made the decision that racism cannot be tolerated and in the spirit of our mission, we are pursuing education on this important topic. We look forward to sharing our learning and hope others look for opportunities to broaden their understanding.
Over the last year, we heard from so many of our #salestaxnerd professionals. We have been listening to all of you and have worked over the past year to develop the Sales Tax Nerd Community – our newest offering! Launching this week, the Sales Tax Nerd Community brings together content and community. We are so excited to bring this new offering to you. We encourage you to consider joining the Community as a way to help you develop in your career (and have some fun along the way).
Our team is growing, this summer we welcomed a marketing intern, Emma. She quickly learned key things about sales tax and is a huge help in getting out all the sales tax changes to you. John, who will celebrate his 12th anniversary with the company next month was promoted to a tax consultant. His career journey through our company has been instrumental in our success and I’m so grateful that he is part of the team. Hannah, Tatisa and our team of specialist consultants and of course our wonderful Sales Tax Institute faculty all contribute to what we do and how we can be the small but mighty firm that we are.
There are so many others that have influenced our journey including our wonderful clients, the amazing students, the organizations that partner with us and my advisors. I value each and every one of you. I miss the opportunities to engage in-person and hope we will be able to do that again soon. Until then, may you be healthy and safe. Thank you all for the moments we have shared, the friendships we have forged and the opportunity to be your trusted sales tax advisor.