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Nobody ever said tax was easy, although it could be a lot simpler if you invest in the latest solutions to manage everything from determination to reporting.
But how do you know your set-up needs an urgent upgrade?
A good starting point is our list of five signs that your tax configuration is behind the times – and if any of them look familiar, it might just be time to update your systems and unleash the power of the latest technology.
Here’s our top five signs of an outdated tax set-up to look out for:
1) You still rely on manual processes
This is perhaps the clearest sign of all that you need to invest in a modern, automated tax solution.
Are your team members manually updating tax rates and codes, validating TRNs and running individual transactions through the system? If the answer to any of these is yes, it’s time to upgrade.
Fail to do so and you’ll likely suffer the consequences of too many manual inputs, which include:
- Frequent errors (potentially resulting in non-compliance if detected by tax authorities).
- Over-reliance on key individuals within your team.
- Use of complicated workarounds.
2) Strategy? What strategy?
Skilled, experienced tax professionals should be free to invest time in valuable projects and processes; such as strategic planning, which we believe should be a priority for all tax teams.
If it feels like your organisation’s finance department is simply getting by rather than actively driving positive change, it could be because your talented people are being overwhelmed by manual and repetitive reporting tasks.
By investing in technology to take care of regular processes, you’ll free your team up to tackle strategy head on.
3) Your tax content is out of date
At the core of great tax performance is optimised, updated and entirely accurate tax content.
Need to know the standard VAT rate in Germany? Wondering what the latest tax code for pharmaceuticals in Argentina is? With a modern tax solution, all these details (and thousands more) are stored and automatically refreshed, meaning your team doesn’t need to check each time you enter them in a tax return.
What’s more, technology offers an extra layer of protection to your data, while it could even save you money if your team is missing out on any rate cuts, tax credits or deductions that a solution would undoubtedly pick up.
4) More time is spent on your system than on managing tax
Are you working long hours to check the work of your team, complete simple data entry tasks or deal with red flags highlighted within your tax transactions?
Not only is this likely draining your energy and motivation, but it’s also wasting hours, days and weeks that could be better spent on transforming tax for your business.
It’s human nature to establish routines and to stick with them, but ask yourself if your existing processes are the best way to manage tax. The majority of repetitive processes can be automated; freeing you up deliver the projects you aspire to achieve as a modern tax professional.
5) WFH is trickier than it should be
The world has changed significantly in the last two years; and one of the trends that is here to stay is remote working.
Staff are increasingly located remotely, often in entirely different countries, making secure and simultaneous access to a central system essential.
If your team is working remotely but you find examples of people overwriting each other’s work or being locked out of key systems, you’re likely experiencing major inefficiencies that could be eliminated with an upgraded set-up.
