Tax executives: Recovering from the initial impact of COVID-19

The tax function's role in COVID-19 recovery

Since the onset of COVID-19, tax executives have played a significant role in supporting their businesses as a result of new legislation and reacting to critical business imperatives. It’s not just that resources have been stretched and processes disrupted as offices and tax professionals navigate through the evolving landscape. It’s also that the business is evaluating material changes in many cases that will have immediate and long-term tax implications. This article will focus on three key tax function COVID-19 recovery areas where tax leaders can deliver strategic value at a pivotal time.

• Cash preservation

• Supply chain planning

• M&A transaction planning

Scenario modeling is key to tax planning, as tax outcomes can be influenced by both timing of any transactions and the interplay of increasingly complex tax rules across multiple jurisdictions. Fortunately, advances in data collection, data wrangling and analytic tools are making this easier to do. Deloitte’s professionals can help companies develop processes for efficient data gathering and provide scenario-planning advice using the latest scenario-planning tools.

Looking back and moving forward

Over the past few months, Deloitte professionals have been working to help tax functions respond to the immediate crisis, recover their operations, and plan for a future in which they can thrive. And while most tax leaders seem to understand their immediate priorities, the scope of the transformation required for tax function COVID-19 recovery has many professionals wondering where to start.

Rather than discouraging leading tax functions from progressing their transformation journeys, the COVID-19 crisis has sharpened minds and accelerated timelines. Indeed, on the road to recovery, leading tax functions are embracing the business-critical changes happening out of necessity to also advance their own digitization needs. And, in doing so, they are finding a significant, albeit unexpected opportunity.