Tax as support function

A lot of the tax support we render flies below the radar. It is invisible to many stakeholders. In marketing jargon we would be seen as a “dissatisfier”: a service which on its own doesn't make a customer happy. But its absence will severely impact the customer. In other words, if we don’t do our job properly, this will transpire, and our stakeholders will suffer. The entire organization will be in trouble. However, if we deliver on promise, we don’t always get the kudos we deserve…

Think about having the required tax registrations in place. If it’s not done, the business will be blocked, immediately. But you won’t always get a pat on the shoulder for having them in place. The same is true for your TP policies. Or just for the proper reporting of all your transactions and the filing of your returns. And there are many other examples.

We can solve this however in a very simple way: putting the tax function on the map. Promoting to your stakeholders what your team is doing. They know that tax is very busy, but often they don’t have a clue what exactly we do. I recently heard from a tax leader that they are organizing “tax lunches” during which periodical updates on tax activities and results are shared. Others use team offsites for this.

Don’t forget to promote your tax services internally. Share wins and challenges, do some basis KPI reporting (e.g. tax under management, amount of returns, footprint, important projects, …). It will help to get your seat at the table. Avoid jargon and be conscious of the complexity of our domain. Focus on speaking the same language as your stakeholders. Get the attention you need and deserve. It will pay off!