Make Tax Season Less Taxing
Careful planning and the right tools can make the difference.
As any corporate tax professional knows, planning an extended vacation during tax season can be an exercise in futility. However, with proper planning, there are ways you can make tax season less taxing and more productive.
The key, according to Richard C. Cimino, Tax Managing Director at KPMG, is to learn from past experiences. If you and your colleagues had to scramble to compile data and download files last year, what makes you think this year will be any easier? "Tax season is going to be stressful, but with a little proactive planning, you can avoid many common obstacles and streamline the process," says Cimino.
The best time to review your process for completing tax provisions and tax compliance is during the first and second quarters of the year, says Cimino. Assemble a team to review what worked well and what didn't during tax season and implement the necessary steps to improve the process.
- Assess. One key area of focus is data suppliers. Identify who they are, when they are required to deliver data, and the format in which that data needs to be provided. This seemingly simple step can help prevent a lot of last-minute headaches and do-overs.
- Streamline. Next, determine whether your firm is overly reliant on spreadsheets and manual processes. If that's the case, tax-planning software can help you streamline by eliminating the need to rekey data. "Tax provision and compliance software, as well as third-party fixed asset software, can take heavily manual processes and put them in a system that's geared toward specific tasks," says Cimino. "We encourage our clients to put some type of provision and compliance technology in place to remove manual calculations and reduce risk."
While tax provision, compliance, or fixed asset software can streamline processing, these improvements don't occur in a vacuum. "You've got to look at the tax department's entire lifecycle, including forecasting, calculating provisions, and compliance, as well as audit defense," says Cimino. "Think of the technology you'll need to support all of those functions and not just a specific piece of it. By taking bits and pieces of the process and making it whole, you'll be able to meet every facet of what the tax department needs, while also demonstrating to your CEO, CFO, and controller how the tax department is bringing value to the company."
For additional insights on how tax-planning software can streamline your tax provisions and compliance, listen to our On Demand Webinar: Fixed Asset Management and Tax Planning »
