Congratulations on your decision to make your dream of owning your own pizza parlor a reality. You have Grandma Rosso’s secret recipe for the world’s best pizza, you have a prime location and have invested in only the finest pizza ingredients and equipment.You better make sure you’re giving Uncle Sam his fair slice of that yummy pie.In Maltese v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1988-322, the Tax Court ruled in favor of the Internal Revenue Service, where the taxpayer failed to keep adequate records for pizza restaurant’s sales, cost of sales, and expenses. Not all of the restaurant’s receipts were deposited and some of the expenses were paid in cash. The court held for the Service where the Internal Revenue Service used supplier information to reconstruct the income. The Internal Revenue Service determined corrected gross receipts from the estimated number of pizzas, which could be made from the amount of flour purchased during the years in question.

If you are operating a privately owned pizza restaurant, I have some sobering news for you.
You are seventy-two times more likely to have to endure an IRS tax audit than your biggest competitors like Pizza Hut, Papa John’s or Dominos. That just doesn’t seem fair, does it?

The good news is that tools are available to you that will level the playing field. We have an IRS tax audit manual specifically for the owners of pizza restaurants.The well-trained IRS auditor already knows that pizza restaurant owners are not good record-keepers. They are going to use this to their advantage. They know exactly what questions to ask and based upon standard formulas they have already obtained, they know what your answers should be. The IRS Tax Auditor will know, without a doubt exactly how many 16″ pizzas can be made from one pound of pizza dough. And that’s just the beginning.
A Few Areas Of Concern

• Do you have documentation concerning business expenses such as the pizza oven?
• Do you have employees that are being paid “off the books?
• Do you take cash out of the drawer to pay for legitimate business expenses?
• Do you take cash out of the drawer to pay for your personal living expenses?
• Do you keep your old cash register tapes to back up an audit?
• Do you have relatives working with you in the business?
• Did you know that you have to keep your old menus to present to the auditor?

…And there’s more!

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. The job of the Internal Revenue Service Auditor is to prove (without a doubt) that you are lying and skimming money out of the company to enable you not to have to pay your fair share of tax. They are very good at their jobs.

You must be equally prepared to prove that you are NOT lying or skimming money out of the company. Are you prepared? For a small investment you can do yourself and your business a huge favor by reserving this invaluable information for your own pro-active use NOW.