on-income taxes comprise every kind of tax that is not an income tax. Company accounting
departments who, of necessity, must give their attention to income taxes are usually very limited in their
knowledge of non-income taxes.

Non-income taxes include, but are not limited to:

Federal and state excise taxes.
Sales and use taxes.
Taxes and fees related to environmental issues.
Real and personal property taxes.
Taxes imposed by foreign countries.
Import duties.

Specific legal provisions governing these taxes are often complex and are frequently confusing or
unfamiliar even to those who are charged with responsibility for their administration.

State taxes are as diverse as the states in which they apply and are continually subject to scrutiny and
change by individual state legislative bodies.

Federal taxes are governed by a voluminous body of federal law, and changes are difficult to track
because they are commonly embedded in large pieces of broadly focused legislation.

The variety and complexity of non-income taxes make them particularly vulnerable to misapplication.