Rideshares, delivery services and even ethical hacking are all examples of emerging job sectors under the new economy and all of them have tax implications. This has caused governments to implement new tax regulations to account for them. The result is constant change as regulatory authorities work to refine and tune processes and obligations to ensure accurate reporting to maximize revenue and eliminate fraud. It is not unusual for reporting forms to change multiple times within a given year and for income thresholds to be adjusted without notice. Conditions are changing quickly as governments embrace digitization to stay a step ahead.

There have been substantial updates and new provisions enacted that impact the insurance industry globally. For example, life insurers now face new reporting obligations on policy sales for both the purchaser and the issuing company, while property-casualty and health insurance companies have new regulations around loss reserve discounting and the proration of certain types of investment income. These are just two of the many examples of changes to international tax rules with the potential to disrupt global operations for multinational insurance companies. Staying informed about regulatory changes has never been more important.

Regulatory authorities have embraced technology and digital transformation to better monitor financial transactions. With this investment came a greater demand for speed and transparency to ensure proper tax amounts were being assessed and remitted by financial institutions. Financial service companies have unique circumstances to navigate, as customers can reside in any location and conduct business with them electronically. You need to monitor every transaction where you are legally obligated to collect taxes to ensure compliance.

Every day, manufacturers manage numerous factors that can affect tax liabilities and reporting obligations. Everything from the equipment you use to produce goods, to the raw materials in your products, to the location of your warehouses, to your shipment methods. Each one comes into play when it comes to tax compliance. Add in the complexity of inventory management and the challenge of selling into multiple tax jurisdictions with different and quickly changing regulations, and your tax management systems can become quickly overwhelmed.

The digital services market continues to grow, everything from movie and music streaming services to software are now under scrutiny from tax authorities looking to take swift action to capture this emerging revenue stream. This has caused a great deal of uncertainty and debate when it comes to tax compliance. Where is the product or service being used or consumed? From where is the payment being made? What is the purpose of the product or service? Tax authorities ask all of these questions as they introduce new mandates and regulations.

The tax compliance landscape for retailers is among the most challenging and complex of any business sector. Factors such as electronic receipt generation, point-of-sale reporting and near limitless numbers of products sold across countless jurisdictional lines can create chaos when it comes to ensuring you are taxing and reporting sales properly. You need to properly track transactions, apply the correct tax rates for wherever your customers might be, and stay up-to-date on regulations as they unfold. All of this is critical to reducing your audit exposure and protecting your financial and reputational well-being.