Future of Tax Insights series episode 2: Tax functions of the future

Transcript

Vik Sachdev
Welcome to our second episode of The Future of Tax Function Insight series. I'm Vik Sachdev, a partner with PwC Canada and with me today is Alina Achy partner in PwC Canada's Connected Tax Compliance group. Alina, in our video premiere, we discussed how the Future of Tax Survey highlighted the increasing complexity of compliance and the growing burden of reporting.

So what was one theme from this survey that stood out for you?

Alina Achy
Thank you, Vik. What stood out to me from the survey was that the tax function in the future will be significantly different from what it is today. Through technological advancements, need for greater data, changes in the global tax landscape such as Pillar two and the new areas of sustainability reporting, the tax function must adapt now to remain relevant in the future.

The survey results actually highlighted that tax functions will need to look different in six ways. They will need to have a greater focus on real time reporting, be more technology enabled, be data centric, be more forward looking and driven by insights. They need to consider different outsourcing approaches and have a differently skilled tax professional.

Vik Sachdev
Alina, for some tax functions. That may be a significant change from where they are today. So what are we seeing organizations do to respond?

Alina Achy
Well, organizations are transforming their tax functions to put data and technology at the heart in order to address a number of the areas that I just mentioned. For example, 79% of large organizations surveyed said that they will increase their use of technology to respond to the growing complexity of compliance. Organizations are also looking at their sourcing model, as in what do they do in-house versus what they outsource to address the different resource and technology needs that they have.

Our survey indicated also that 41% of the largest organizations said they would look to outsourcing to respond to these challenges. And of course, all these will change the skills needed in tax professionals.

Vik Sachdev
Thanks Alina. I know some of the other episodes in this series touch on data and technology and how those are transforming tax functions. But tax professionals will also need to adapt. What do you think the future skills of a tax professional will be like, and how are we helping our clients?

Alina Achy
Sure. So as I mentioned earlier, technology and data are the new driving forces of a tax function, and there's a demand to develop new crucial skills for today's tax professional. Across the biggest organizations surveyed, 85% said they need people with more technology skills. 80% said they need to upskill their staff in new areas, such as data analysis and how to drive business insights from tax data.

Today, a prime function of outsource providers like PwC is to provide immediate access to technology and data specialist teams who work alongside compliance specialists to bridge the gap for our clients and bring together all relevant skills required to effectively manage a tax function.

Vik Sachdev
So as Jonathan mentioned in the first video of the series. Tax functions can no longer focus on the historical, but instead create value beyond the return. So as tax functions think about their transformation journey, what is the key message you would like to leave people with?

Alina Achy
Well, the word transformation itself often seems scary and people think it is a huge exercise and that it requires substantial financial and people resources and sometimes speaking upfront to outsource providers about how the services they offer can be combined with in-house resources and skills can often help organizations achieve the transformation needed for to more effectively and quickly transform. So my key message is get started on your transformation journey today, whether that's to revamp your tax processes, develop a tax data strategy, invest in technology, or upskill your team. And at PwC our Connected Tax Compliance approach meets clients where they are in their current tax function needs.

Our aim is to help you develop a tax function that is connected and works for you now and in the future.

Vik Sachdev
Thank you, Alina. That was very insightful. For more information on our human led tech powered Connected Tax Compliance approach, visit our website. Thank you for being here. We hope you'll join us for our next conversation, which will look more closely at how technology is transforming tax compliance.