$24M in new revenue, untangled in two months
After an acquisition stalled on tangled systems and data, we untangled it fast — protecting $24M in new revenue in two months.
What they were up against.
When Dave & Busters completed a major acquisition, the integration team surfaced something no one wanted to find: inconsistent sales-tax collection and remittance across the acquired brand's entire location portfolio. The acquired business had operated across multiple state tax jurisdictions on a patchwork of POS systems — some misconfigured at setup and never corrected. The potential exposure ran into eight figures, and the next state audit cycle was less than 90 days out. Finance and operations were already stretched thin on integration; they needed a partner who could step in, move fast, and own the outcome.
- Regulatory liability — multi-state sales-tax exposure with potential penalties and back-assessments exceeding $24M
- Acquisition value at risk — tax liabilities never surfaced in diligence threatened to erode the entire deal premium
- Audit timeline — 90 days to resolution before the next state audit cycle, with no room for a slow start
- System complexity — multiple POS systems, tax configurations, and jurisdictions, all requiring simultaneous diagnosis and remediation
How we did it.
Rapid systems audit
Within the first week, we mapped every POS system, tax configuration, and jurisdiction — pinpointing exactly where the miscalculations occurred and which locations were affected.
Exposure quantification
We built a financial model calculating precise exposure per location, per jurisdiction, and per tax period — giving finance the numbers to make decisions and brief the board.
Engineering fix
We engineered configuration corrections across all affected POS systems, working in parallel across location clusters to compress the timeline without sacrificing accuracy.
Remediation & documentation
For locations with prior underpayments, we worked with the client's tax counsel to prepare voluntary disclosure filings — reducing penalty exposure and creating an audit-ready record for every location.
What changed.
In under 60 days, every affected location was remediated and voluntary disclosures were filed in all required jurisdictions. When the state audit cycle arrived, the client had a complete, documented record of corrections — and received zero new findings. The $24M exposure that threatened the acquisition's value became a controlled, documented, closed file. Finance and operations came out with cleaner systems, clearer processes, and a tax-compliance framework that scales with the combined company.
The system.
POS audit & configuration engine
A custom tool that systematically evaluated tax configurations across every POS terminal — flagging misconfigured rates, missing nexus rules, and incorrect product tax categories.
Multi-jurisdiction tax model
Mapped every location to its applicable state and local jurisdictions, calculating historical exposure by period with configurable penalty scenarios.
Batch remediation tooling
Applied corrections across POS systems in controlled batches, with verification checks at each stage.
Audit-ready documentation system
Produced location-level remediation records suitable for regulatory review — organized by jurisdiction and tax period.
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