The City of Newport Beach recently re-engaged with HdL Companies, the nation’s leading provider of tax audit and revenue recovery services for local municipalities, to provide the City with needed actionable analysis and insights.
From 2012 to 2019, the City of Newport Beach relied upon HdL to audit and recover sales and use taxes that were underpaid or misallocated by retailers or the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). After working with another vendor for one year, the City ultimately decided to re-establish HdL as its sales tax audit and management consultant.
According to a staff report presented to City Council, the key reason for switching back to HdL was “HdL’s reports and analysis are more robust and useful for the City sales tax forecasting.” Additionally, over the term of HdL’s previous contract with Newport Beach the firm recovered more than $3 million in misallocated taxes, representing a return on investment of 650% after all fees paid for the service. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, HdL has been a leader in hosting informational webinars and maintained a COVID-19 resource website to help cities better understand the fiscal impacts of the pandemic.”
Newport Beach’s robust economy requires close attention to the sales tax revenues it generates,” said Andy Nickerson, President/CEO for HdL. “Our job is to make sure the City gets the tax revenue it’s due to pay for vital public services that make Newport Beach such a great place to live, work, and visit.”
Last year, the CDTFA distributed over $37 million in sales and use taxes to the City of Newport Beach. Sales and use taxes are collected by the CDTFA from retailers and other businesses, then distributed back to municipalities. Sometimes those funds are mistakenly paid to an incorrect jurisdiction. Part of the HdL audit will be to discover those erroneous payments and ensure the funding gets to the City of Newport Beach.
About HdL Companies
With more than 500 cities, counties and special districts as clients, HdL is the nation’s leading provider of proprietary revenue recovery, audit and administration services encompassing all general sources of municipal tax revenue. To learn more about HdL and its revenue recovery services, visit www.hdlcompanies.com.