Utility Exemption Studies

Ryan's methodical approach to collecting utility consumption data, successfully utilized for more than a decade, transcends to the way we present it—clearly, concisely, and with a thorough understanding of your business.

• We determine existing and previous patterns of utility consumption and how it relates to the exemption process to validate a claim for exemption or refund.
• We have the expertise and research capabilities to accurately determine the taxable classification of each item contained in the utility study and explore all available issues.
• Our experts inventory each item in a client's facility that consumes electricity or natural gas, appropriately listing the amps, volts, watts, ccfs, hours of operation, duty factors, and kilowatts. Our fieldwork must correlate with our client's billing history for a valid and accurate result.
• Laws governing exemptions on utilities are varied. We continually track changes for every jurisdiction that allows this type of exemption.
• We maintain our client's proof of exemption by performing periodic updates when necessary. Fluctuations in production, facility expansions, acquisitions, and organizational growth have our clients turning to Ryan to provide and maintain these substantial and sometimes overlooked exemptions.

Services Provided:

We assist our clients with:

• Annual updates or determination of credits where required
• Audit defense
• Claims for exemption to the utility vendor or taxing authority
• Claims for refund to the utility vendor or taxing authority
• Compliance reviews
• Compliance studies or documentation
• Corporate tax libraries of documentation
• Hourly, fixed, or contingency fees
• Replicate client studies maintained in archive
• Requests for letter rulings
• Tax research for specific processes or issues

Expertise:

While we have experience in all industries, we have achieved a high degree of success for clients in non-traditional manufacturing environments by qualifying what might not typically be viewed as tax-exempt activity.

Additionally, our attention to detail in depicting the exempt process in the client utility study has on many occasions revealed potential for additional exemption opportunities, an added benefit to our service:

• Qualified a global defense contractor to support its claim for exemption in excess of $1.8 million, in addition to prospective savings.
• Identified and qualified $700,000 in refunds for a national food processor for five locations.
• Provided studies to qualify a national roofing and asphalt company for ten locations, resulting in $500,000 in refunds.
• Increased percentages of exemption for a global food processor/distributor at one single location yielding $400,000 in refunds and $75,000 in annual prospective savings.
• Provided studies for a grocery chain to offset a $200,000 audit assessment on utilities.
• Provided studies to a global clothing manufacturer qualifying additional processes that supported manufacturing at one facility, resulting in refunds in excess of $128,000.
• Assisted a global electronics firm in restructuring its utility purchases for one location in order to realize annual savings of $100,000.
• Qualified software development activities for a global electronics firm, resulting in $100,000 in refunds, plus prospective savings.
• Increased percentages of exemption by as much as 22% for a national food chain dairy, resulting in almost $70,000 in retroactive refunds as well as prospective savings.
• Qualified a global semiconductor company at one fabless facility for electricity purchases, resulting in refunds in excess of $55,000, plus prospective savings.
• Qualified the gas consumption for a national plastics manufacturer facility, resulting in excess of $50,000 in refunds, plus prospective savings.

For more information regarding Ryan's utility exemption studies, please contact us at 512.476.0022.

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