# KEEPING THE TAX MAN ONSIDE Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2015-12-01 Category: BUSINESS Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business Meta Title: Struggling with Tax Reporting? Find a Solution Here Meta Description: Learn how to streamline tax reporting processes for businesses operating in multiple countries to ensure compliance and accuracy. Say goodbye to spreadsheets! URL: https://financedigest.com/keeping-the-tax-man-onsidehtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/corporate-tax-1736844868963-compressed.jpg) **_By Ian Stone, Managing Director, UK and Ireland at Anaplan_** As Margaret Mitchell exclaimed in the classic novel, _Gone with the Wind_: “Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.” And while I hope that most businesses would be sympathetic to the first and more understanding of the last, when it comes to taxes I’m certain they would be in agreement. We know that taxes are a necessary part of operating within a region – though this doesn’t make it any more pleasant to pay them. Complex and time-consuming to process, organisations have teams of employees [spending long hours to simply ensure they are paid](https://www.financedigest.com/paid-search-advertising-how-to-identify-wasted-spending.html "Paid search advertising: how to identify wasted spending") up and compliant with tax processes. [Tax reporting](https://www.financedigest.com/transforming-vat-how-is-europe-modernising-tax-reporting.html "Transforming VAT: How is Europe modernising tax reporting?") can be undoubtedly painful – especially when you are dealing with multiple countries. Organisations have to be certain that they are paying the right amount of taxes for every activity. If you think that every country has its own specific tax regimes, and that your organisation must abide by the regulations of every country in which they operate, it becomes a phenomenally difficult challenge. Worryingly, we still see a lot of companies trying to deal with [tax issue](https://www.financedigest.com/a-taxing-issue-ten-tax-invoicing-pitfalls-that-international-businesses-must-avoid.html "A taxing issue: Ten tax invoicing pitfalls that international businesses must avoid") through spreadsheets. It’s far from ideal: outdated and prone to errors. With multiple spreadsheets for different countries and activities, it is difficult if not impossible, to trust the accuracy data. Also, many companies can likely sympathise that frustrations with spreadsheets abound when the tax reporting deadline is [looming and the tax collector comes knocking on your door demanding accurate data](https://www.financedigest.com/uks-ftse-100-gets-a-lift-from-commodities-as-u-s-inflation-data-looms.html "UK’s FTSE 100 gets a lift from commodities as U.S. inflation data looms"). **The Trust Issue** And it’s no surprise that the [tax man is breathing down the neck of businesses](https://www.financedigest.com/employee-retention-tax-credit-is-a-lifeline-for-businesses.html "Employee Retention Tax Credit is a lifeline for businesses") – over the last few years tax optimisation headlines have dominated the public consciousness. From Starbucks to Amazon, numerous companies –rightly or wrongly – have been accused of using dirty tricks to [avoid paying their fair share](https://www.financedigest.com/uks-argo-blockchain-shares-soar-on-deals-to-avoid-bankruptcy.html "UK’s Argo Blockchain shares soar on deals to avoid bankruptcy") of taxes. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has started to further its efforts into bringing transparency to the process of tax collection, including a proposal to fight “Base Erosion and [Profit](https://www.financedigest.com/bp-makes-record-profit-in-2022-slows-shift-from-oil.html "BP makes record profit in 2022, slows shift from oil") Shifting” (BEPS). This mechanism refers to tax [planning strategies](https://www.financedigest.com/tom-l-r-griffiths.html "Thomas LR Griffiths’ top 10 strategies for US tax planning") that exploit gaps in the architecture of the international tax system to artificially shift profits to places where there is little to no economic activity or taxation. [Tax authorities](https://www.financedigest.com/german-tax-authorities-should-show-leniency-to-households-firms-amid-energy-crisis-letter.html "German tax authorities should show leniency to households, firms amid energy crisis – letter") are no longer content to sit idle. “They are on the move and are collecting [data everywhere in the world and sharing](https://www.financedigest.com/u-s-yield-curve-inverts-after-strong-jobs-data-world-shares-mixed.html "U.S. yield curve inverts after strong jobs data; world shares mixed") it”, says Patrick van Gerven, CEO of The Resource, a Dutch consulting expert on tax reporting. Recently, the French tax authorities announced that they would use [data mining](https://www.financedigest.com/demand-for-lifesciences-data-mining-and-visualization-market-to-surpass-us-6000-mn-by-2026.html "Demand for Lifesciences Data Mining and Visualization Market to Surpass US$ 6,000 Mn by 2026") technology to detect fiscal fraud. Supported by their public opinion, tax collectors are asking not only for more traceability, but also for transparency. At the company level, things are difficult. The CEO and the CFO will have to [deal with the new requirements from the tax](https://www.financedigest.com/g20-to-back-global-corporate-tax-deal-says-french-finance-minister.html "G20 to back global corporate tax deal, says French finance minister") authorities. At the same time, their stakeholders are asking for a clean bill of health with said authorities. **Making the Tax Process Pay Off** More importantly, transparency in the tax process can actually add to your [bottom line](https://www.financedigest.com/how-high-performers-can-increase-a-bottom-line.html "How high performers can increase a bottom line"). We have seen numerous businesses take a financial hit following [media reports](https://www.financedigest.com/credit-agricole-is-weighing-foray-into-german-car-sharing-media-report.html "Credit Agricole is weighing foray into German car-sharing: media report") on their tax affairs. At the same time, we have also seen their [rivals enjoy an upsurge in profits](https://www.financedigest.com/uber-rival-bolt-seeks-to-turn-profitable-next-year-ipo-in-2025.html "Uber rival Bolt seeks to turn profitable next year, IPO in 2025"), as customer react to the negative press and take their business elsewhere. The ramifications of these bruising battles with the Tax Man are likely to be felt for a long time afterwards as it can months or even [years to repair the damage and recreate that previous customer](https://www.financedigest.com/impact-com-fiscal-year-h1-2021-1-5b-valuation-150m-in-funding-bigcommerce-integration-69-customer-growth.html "impact.com Fiscal Year H1 2021: .5B Valuation, 0M in Funding, BigCommerce Integration, 69% Customer Growth") loyalty. A cloud solution, with a built in collaborative capabilities, is one way of turning tax headaches into a process that takes significantly less time and yields [reports that are flexible and error](https://www.financedigest.com/metro-bank-former-top-bosses-fined-over-reporting-error.html "Metro Bank, former top bosses fined over reporting error") free. [Corporate tax](https://www.financedigest.com/irish-corporate-tax-boom-breaks-more-records-in-november.html "Irish corporate tax boom breaks more records in November") reporting should be considered as part of Enterprise Performance Management, as companies need the capability to quickly access the right data and be able to adapt to shifting business dynamics. A cloud-based tool can enable an organisation to create specific [reports for each country or region](https://www.financedigest.com/asia-pacific-region-to-lead-the-global-static-shielding-bags-market-fact-mr-report.html "Asia Pacific Region to Lead the Global Static Shielding Bags Market: Fact.MR Report") – before then rolling the data into a single, consolidated view of the whole company—all in real time. And, if you happen to detect a deviation of the amount of taxes paid in a certain country, you will be able to have immediate insight into the discrepancy and verify the situation. For a public company, it’s better to act rapidly than to explain in an [annual report](https://www.financedigest.com/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-21-debt-at-an-all-time-high.html "HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 – Debt at an All-time High") what went wrong. And don’t forget about shareholders. They are keen to know what the Effective [Tax Rates](https://www.financedigest.com/factbox-the-uks-top-tax-rate-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter.html "Factbox-The UK’s top tax rate – what is it and why does it matter?") are for companies in which they have interests.  With the ability to drill down, collect data, and easily explain your model, companies will start looking forward to [sharing tax](https://www.financedigest.com/what-is-inheritance-tax-share-loss-relief.html "What is inheritance tax share loss relief?") reporting with both shareholders and tax inspectors. --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---