Tax Management Consulting

Tax department strategy, risk management and operating model

Tax has never had so much attention, whether it is from the CFO, the Board, customers, Governments or other stakeholders. In fact, the Lloyds’s Risk Index 2013 found that high taxation was the highest priority risk among global business leaders. To handle this scrutiny and associated risk, organisations must take a rigorous approach to managing taxes. In particular groups should look at their tax strategy - defining and agreeing a tax risk appetite for the organisation and putting in place a framework for applying it. Any tax strategy comes with risks, and the tax director is responsible for identifying these, putting in place measures to control risk and providing assurance to all relevant stakeholders that this has been done. Managing tax risk should not come at the expense of efficient and effective tax processes, and leading organisations will ensure that the goals of the organisation for tax are clearly communicated, built into individuals’ performance objectives and effectively monitored using key performance indicators.

Tax technology

Tax departments today often face significant resource constraints, requiring an increased focus on efficiency and effective use of technology to streamline their compliance and reporting processes. Overreliance on spreadsheets, outdated technology, and a lack of integration between tax and finance systems can hamper a tax departments’ ability to obtain and analyse the data needed for timely and accurate tax compliance and reporting.

Deloitte assists tax departments in understanding requirements for the design, selection, and implementation of tax software for global and local purposes for both direct and indirect taxes. We have extensive experience of the major tax technologies available and we help businesses to make appropriate technology choices, configuring and integrating those choices through the entire record-to-report business cycle for tax. Typical solutions include enterprise systems, middleware, tax applications and management reporting dashboards.

In particular, the integration of tax data requirements into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is increasingly critical for tax departments to operate effectively. We can advise organisations wishing to tax enable their ERP systems, including the direct and indirect tax requirements and the related data to support their tax-related activities on a global basis. We also assist with data retention, document management, and the prioritisation of controls.

Tax information is increasingly important to management’s ability to plan and forecast. We help organisations to leverage data analytics for tax and assess the data and information produced. In addition, we help businesses gain insights into past tax performance and how tax technologies, applications, and leading practices can help tax departments plan and executive tax management more effectively.

Global compliance outsourcing

We have helped businesses of all sizes and geographic locations to create a best practice compliance process model. This involves a thorough analysis of current compliance procedures, which then forms the basis for a tailored set of recommendations based on the circumstances of the organisation in question. We have the flexibility to support companies, whether they choose to pursue an in-source, co-source, or outsource model.

Our deep understanding and experience of tax compliance technology and best practice enables us to help organisations understand their current tax compliance needs. We help groups decide on the best way to meet their tax reporting requirements: in-house or outsourced or perhaps a mixture of both. We can then assist with effecting any transition or change involved.

We can add value by providing a range of additional services, such as recommendations on how to deal with evolving regulatory requirements such as US GAAP, or guiding businesses on how to most effectively communicate disclosures and Effective Tax Rates to stakeholders such as the Board, investors, analysts and the media. Our aim is to grant quality assurance, transparency and overall control.