This blog was last updated on July 2, 2021
Sales and use tax compliance is quickly becoming a critical function for numerous types of businesses. When it comes to your tax and finance team, each employee should of course have basic knowledge of tax details, but what other areas are truly essential? How can you ensure that your finance team is ready to help your business stay compliant and up-to-date on the latest tax requirements? In today’s increasingly digital world, organizations must have a tax and finance team knowledgeable on tax details, informed of the latest security and compliance needs, and able to continuously adapt to evolving trends.
An understanding of business operations, tax details
It is not news that sales and use tax is complicated. But even so, tax teams must stay up-to-date on the latest requirements for remaining compliant. Additionally, each employee has to know how their business operations are impacted by evolving sales tax requirements. For example, if your company is based in New York but has ecommerce sales in 10 other states, what are your economic nexus requirements? Similarly, direct selling companies typically offer goods subject to complex sales tax requirements. Does your tax team know how each state in which you sell administers their tax?
A strong tax employee knows the ins and outs of your business and understands every sales tax detail that relates to the business. This will help your company in the short- and long-term, especially as sales tax grows in the digital world.
Security and compliance knowledge
The increasingly complex world of sales and use tax is pushing companies to submit more information all the time to government authorities in their local jurisdictions and across borders. This means that data security and managing privacy concerns are now tax-related matters. Your tax and finance team must understand the role they play in privacy and security. Each employee must know how technology and processes work together to keep company information protected, especially as cloud-based sales tax solutions become preferred models for strategic growth.
Adaptability for evolving sales tax needs
Change management is often fueled by total cost of ownership (TCO), ROI and a desire for reduced manual work. More businesses are realizing the need for user-centric solutions that operate on the most up-to-date regulatory requirements. Your tax and finance team must remain adaptable and teachable to ensure that they can keep pace with changing technology. Otherwise, your business could lag behind and create unsatisfied customers.
Furthermore, being able to evolve along with changing technology ensures that your tax team can gain increased efficiency while reducing manual work.
Take Action
Ready to prepare for the future of sales and use tax? Check out our infogram on aligning IT and tax departments for your move to the cloud.
