Tax compliance is a complex task for businesses operating in one single country let alone for multinational organizations who face significant additional challenges in navigating a vast array of differing laws and requirements across the globe. Successfully managing compliance and reporting across the world requires new approaches, smart tech and innovative compliance tools as well as the expertise to employ them effectively.
KPMG has been a global leader in tax and compliance, securing its fourth consecutive Asia-Pacific Compliance and Reporting Firm of the Year award from International Tax Review in August 2021, while also attaining significant national and regional success in multiple categories. ITR sat down with experts Christina Alverez and Jenny Clarke, KPMG leaders working in the Asia-Pacific region, to discuss how their teams are re-imagining tax compliance in the area.
Clarke, the Leader for Transformation and Compliance in APAC, described how the industry has embraced digital transformation to leverage new technology and automation capabilities. For nearly thirty years, not much has changed in how compliance was performed, but in the last decade, many external factors have compelled tax firms to adapt and change. Evolving tax laws, changes in reporting requirements and changes in the way people make money are all driving companies to re-invent the way they manage their compliance, helping them keep pace with revenue authorities armed with deeper insights due to their investments in automation and technology.
Alverez, the Leader of the Singapore-based Tax Reimagined Centre of Excellence, described how Tax Reimagined helps KPMG’s clients work through developing and implementing tailored solutions to address their unique compliance needs, building processes and tools that leverage new technology and resources to free up internal teams to focus on more value-added work.
Overall, the two painted a picture of a regulatory world in flux, highlighting the need for tax professionals to keep up with changing times and technologies. While compliance may be complicated, it doesn’t need to be painful, and services like KPMG’s Tax Reimagined can help businesses ensure they are able to keep pace with the evolving capabilities of revenue authorities and rapidly changing laws and regulations, ensuring their reporting is accurate, complete and compliant.
