3 Tax Processes Technology Helps Optimize

When the Supreme Court’s South Dakota v. Wayfair decision upended long-established corporate tax processes and introduced new ones in 2018, many companies stepped up their search for a comprehensive technology solution for transaction taxes. Tax leaders turned to information technology (IT) departments for help in choosing and implementing new platforms.

Michael Bernard, chief tax officer—at Vertex, explores three areas in which that partnership can be particularly fruitful in a new CIO.com podcast titled How to Optimize 3 Major Tax Processes with Technology: Tax Compliance, Planning and Audit Defense. It’s part of the CIO series Tax Technology Today. 

Michael packs a lot of insights into the podcast’s short run-time (it’s about ten minutes). Listen in to learn how IT can help tax departments build solutions for:

1. Tax compliance: IT’s expertise with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, as well as other tools used by finance departments, is invaluable in this process category, which he describes as “the bedrock of what tax departments do.” IT departments often have the funding “for purchasing the tools and updating the ERP systems,” Michael also notes, “so it’s really essential that tax departments work closely with IT departments in that area.”
2. Tax planning: Machine learning technologies can play an important role in helping to ensure correct tax categorization for new products and services, across new geographies. Michael explains how errors in product categorization can quickly give rise to cash flow and customer satisfaction issues.
3. Audit defense: Michael points out that auditors’ initial focus isn’t always on transaction amounts – they may be more interested in exemptions, credits and adjustments. IT can help ensure that all the relevant tax data is clean, safely stored and quickly accessible.  

The podcast strikes a positive tone in explaining how tax leaders can leverage technology to respond quickly to unpredictable changes. And with a strong partner in IT, they don’t have to go it alone.