The Top 5 Reasons We’re Feeling Grateful in 2019

It’s the perfect time of year to step back and take account of everything we have to be thankful for in 2019.

From record student numbers to new Sales Tax Institute team members – we are grateful for yet another exciting and busy year in the sales tax field, learning and growing alongside you.

Here are the top five reasons we’re feeling extra grateful this year.

 

1. Our Stellar Students

You’re the reason we’re here! No matter how you learned with us – through an on-demand webinar, live webinar, in-person or online course – we are extraordinarily grateful you chose and trusted us to teach you.

Your engagement and thoughtful questions energize us to continue course and resource development to bring you the best educational content possible. It is incredibly encouraging to see many of our students transform their approach to sales tax from begrudgingly learning about it to utter excitement about the impact they can make and the career possibilities in the field.

We know your investment in your sales tax education will make you even more invaluable to your company.

This year, it was a particular treat to watch mini ‘reunions’ unfold at our in-person courses between our many returnees. We love to see the continuity of relationships between our students as they unpack sales tax challenges together both in and outside of class.

Finally, a special thanks to attendees of our Sales Tax Summit: Innovation and Disruption in Tax Technology event, a unique offering for 2019. Your contributions to discussion made the course so rich. We applaud you for exploring ways to employ emerging technologies to make sales tax work more efficient and effective. It’s an honor to see our students on the cutting edge of sales tax!

 

2. The Growing Sales Tax Nerd Community

When we started using ‘sales tax nerd’ messaging towards the beginning of the year, we had no idea the resounding response it would have. We are thrilled that the sales tax nerd messaging has resonated with so many of you. Our collective heart swells every time we see someone rocking a Sales Tax Nerd™ sticker or wearing a sales tax nerd shirt.

Your response inspired us to give out the first ever Sales Tax Nerd Award to celebrate and reward professionals in the field who are passionate about working in and learning about sales tax.

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to apply for the award. We were inspired as we  read all the applications and learned about the many accomplished sales tax nerds out there. Keep taking stock of the impact you have in your companies! Your sales tax expertise makes a huge difference.

We must also thank our six finalists for the award – Cherie Julius (our 2019 winner), Kelly Brown, Tonya Grayson, Jordan Perri, Kenyatta Rogers, and Cameron Stearns – for sharing their stories and backgrounds with us and for being an awesome representation of the profession. Make sure to meet our 2019 Sales Tax Nerd Award finalists if you haven’t already!

We also celebrate the success of ‘sales tax nerd’ meet-ups at this fall’s tax conferences. We loved seeing sales tax pros establish new connections with peers who speak the same language. Watch for announcements from us for meet-ups at Spring 2020 conferences.

A hearty “cheers!” to all of you sales tax nerds out there!

 

3. Our Instructors and Staff

We are so grateful to our Sales Tax Institute instructors for making time in their busy schedules to co-host webinars and teach in-person courses with us. From lawyers in specialty tax practices to savvy consultants to leaders in the tax tech space – we are lucky to have some of the brightest minds in sales tax on our faculty.

Their enthusiasm for discussing complex sales tax topics and devotion to helping our students answer their trickiest questions ensure training through the Sales Tax Institute is an outstanding experience. A huge thank you to this year’s faculty and a special group of tax technology experts that presented at our Sales Tax Summit event.

The Sales Tax Institute staff is a small but industrious crew. We are proud to see all of their efforts behind the scenes translate into valuable resources on our website and informative and fun training courses.

Our team also grew and shifted this year! We were very happy to welcome new team member Shane Ratigan as Sales Tax Manager this fall. Shane brings many talents to the Sales Tax Institute and will share his abilities as a speaker during 2020 courses.

 

4. Our Savvy Sponsors

We send forth immense gratitude to our 2019 Sales Tax Institute sponsors, Sovos, R&M Consulting, Avalara, and Vertex. We are proud to partner with these outstanding tax technology and consulting firms to produce educational opportunities that help take our students’ sales tax skills to the next level.

We look forward to continued partnership in 2020 as we roll out another round of updated live courses and exciting new webinar topics.

 

5. Our Consulting Clients

In 2018, we started offering sales tax consultations directly through the Sales Tax Institute website (instead of solely through the consulting side of our business, YETTER Tax). It has been an honor to provide specialized assistance to those facing tricky sales tax challenges, particularly post-Wayfair.

To everyone we have worked with as a client in the past year – thank you for putting your trust in us. We are privileged to help you navigate the sales tax landscape as well as get to know you and your business. Thanks for letting us be an extended part of your team!

 

Into a New Decade

2020 rapidly approaches. A year that already promises to be full of new challenges and opportunities. Our top five reasons to be grateful in 2019 serve as excellent motivators to raise our game in the new year. We are so excited to explore and develop new ways to deliver the sales tax education your need. We will have some exciting announcements for the new year – all based on feedback from you!

Thank you for propelling us forward.

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving and may you enjoy time with family and friends!