Tax Obligations vs. Tax Budget

In-house tax teams need to manage an ever-increasing amount of global tax obligations. These obligations include filings and payments in different countries across different tax domains, like corporate income tax, indirect taxes, transfer pricing compliance, local and environmental taxes and WHT formalities. On top of that, there is a myriad of internal periodical tax reporting jobs that should be handled. All these obligations come with strict deadlines and they require a complex interplay between internal and external stakeholders to avoid financial, reputational and criminal sanctions. Proactive tax teams even insource more jobs from certain stakeholders to ensure the right quality levels, like the preparation of LocalGAAP accounts.

The sheer amount of tax obligations under management is often very unbalanced compared to the available resources. Indeed, tax teams are always too small. The budget is too limited. And yep, the toolbox most of the time is fairly empty…

The mid-year point is nearing, which for many teams means that soon the budget exercise will kick off. Reflecting on how to secure the budget that you need and deserve, aligned to the volume of global tax obligations that your team is managing (or is accountable for), is important, and at this stage still “not urgent”. So go for it, right now, and start the mental preparation for this! You will be better prepared to submit your budget later this year.

Don’t forget: the momentum to transform your tax function has never been higher. The entire tax ecosystem is transforming at the speed of light. The longer you wait, the more painful it will be to get started. Building the business case for future-proofing your tax function should be a no-brainer. It is up to you to make this happen! Reach out to me in case you want further guidance.