Worldwide, there were 37% more indirect tax changes in the second quarter of 2012 than there were during the same period in 2011, according to our latest ONESOURCE Indirect Tax rate report.

There were 1,025 tax code changes in Q2 2012, compared with 270 in Q2 2011.

This includes 109 indirect tax increases, down slightly from 124 in Q2 2011.

Highlights from the global Q2 2012 report include: (more…)

Working extra hours, even double time, has become the normal part of a tax accountant’s job.

Along with grueling hours, tax accountants have become accustomed to the other “norms” of busy season, such as the stress and pressure of the looming September 15th deadline, demanding clients and bosses and unhealthy late-night dinners.

Sound familiar? Here are a few tips to get you through another busy season:

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The primary goal of a single set of high-quality global accepted accounting standards is still the heart of the matter. However, the SEC’s final report from its IFRS work plan, issued July 13, 2012, does not set out any conclusions on the logistics of when or how current US GAAP reporters can achieve that goal. By issuing the final report they are concluding the IFRS work plan effort that was announced in February 2010 (release no. 33-9109).

Identified in the report are areas where the SEC feels the IASB has adequate facilities to allow US GAAP reporters to adopt/converge to IFRS, but there are also many areas that are identified where the SEC has ongoing concerns. (more…)

This week we announced the latest version of ONESOURCE Transfer Pricing, the first comprehensive software and content suite to address the entire transfer pricing workflow within a corporation.

This release comes at a pivotal time when governments across the globe have begun tightening transfer pricing regulations and strengthening enforcement in order to generate billions of dollars in incremental revenues each year.

ONESOURCE Transfer Pricing helps global organizations automate and control data collection, policy creation and documentation, and ongoing financial monitoring to ensure compliance. This end-to-end solution contains new components such as a Transfer Pricing Analyzer as well as updated data collection features in the Documenter and Benchmark web-based solutions.

Additional information can be obtained by visiting ONESOURCE Transfer Pricing, and by checking out the full press release.

Imagine eliminating the risk and time-consuming processes of using Microsoft^® Office Excel during your income tax filings and year-end financial close.

As part of the latest story in our Data Management Podcast Series, Chip Gooding, Director, Tax Accounting and Reporting at Commercial Metals Company (CMC), shares how transitioning to standardized workpapers helped his tax team automate 70% of their tax adjustments and speed up everything…from adjusting their U.S. deferreds in only three days to being on track to a faster close. Tune in to hear about this dramatic transformation.

Similar to many tax departments today, the tax department staff at CMC found themselves spending too much time on tedious tasks surrounding tax data management, taking away from the time they had available for real value-add work. With over 15 years of experience, Chip faced pressure to complete a faster close, stressing the need for automation. He led CMC’s tax department on a mission to lock down and take full control of everything in their tax department, starting with data. (more…)

What if you could improve visibility into — and control over — your company’s tax data and tax-related systems and processes? Overall, how could you benefit from standardizing calculations?

A year and a half ago, these are the questions that one global tax department looked into. Challenged with a material weakness and improving their spreadsheet-based tax process, they were forced to re-evaluate their data management strategy worldwide.  I sat down with Elaine Lundin, Manager, Global Tax Accounting at a global automotive manufacturer to hear what steps her company took to eliminate error, accelerate tax cycles and improve data collection and integration between their global return and provision process. Tune into our Data Management Podcast Series to hear about this dramatic transformation.

You’ll hear Elaine’s step-by-step account retooling their data management processes by first developing an intimate knowledge of their processes and then identifying who was going to be in the process.  They then embarked on a plan to explore tax technology to see what innovative solutions could help expedite their process, as well as ensure accuracy in their calculations. Ultimately, they chose to leverage ONESOURCE Tax Provision for non-U.S. entities and the ONESOURCE provision and return solution for U.S. entities.  This process was divided  into three major areas:  (more…)

The newly issued repair regulations seem to be all the buzz…  After much anticipation, new tangible property regulations were released, replacing both the proposed regulations (issued March of 2008) and the long-standing current regulations.  These new temporary regulations, effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2012, update the prior rules and serve to codify a previously unclear area of tax law.

It is noteworthy that the new temporary regulations include rules that are significantly different from both the current regulationsand the proposed regulations.  (more…)

How Saving 20 Hours During Their 7-Day Close is Getting the Tax Team More Exposure

When the US tax department of AstraZeneca was under the microscope of new management, they knew that incorporating software into their tax processses would help to gain effiencies around data managment and reporting out globally.

In our recent Data Management Podcast series, Linda Peoples, CPA tax manager, Tax Accounting and Reporting, shares how tax data management is on management’s radar and how they are in favor of using software to gain efficiencies wherever possible. In her podcast, Peoples provides insights into her company’s experience, so that others facing similar challenges can gain a new perspective on data management strategies.

Peoples shares how her 24-person tax team is seeing the benefits of automating their calculations and moving towards a paperless provision. They are currently gathering all of their data for their book-tax adjustments for provision and return and are bringing it all into a database using ONESOURCE DataFlow.  As a result of easier collection and computation of adjustments, the global biopharmaceutical company’s tax team has been able to automatically compute about 75% of their book tax adjustments, which is a huge change from years prior with manual data entry.

Peoples estimates about 20 hours of time saved during the one week they take to calculate their provision.“This change helped my group so they don’t need to work overtime.” Peoples expects the same type of time savings during the compliance process since there are so many more adjustments that the group needs to prepare. Next year, the team expects to save more time by automatically calculating  adjustments for their M&E accounts.

With this type of progress, her team’s efficiencies are not going unnoticed. They have been receiving kudos from upper management and gaining attention from the UK team, which is also evaluating ONESOURCE as well.

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When I was young and naïve, I overheard a seasoned practitioner remark: “If tax provisions are fun…then dealing with the international pieces of the provision is the most fun you can have.”  I’m now neither young nor naïve and I recognize the sarcasm in the remark.  However, I do believe the issues are interesting and, if tackled with the appropriate mindset, might even rise to the level of “fun”.

Let’s review a few such entertaining issues impacting the international components of the provision:

 

 

“APB 23.”

Absent a representation under ASC topics 740 and 942 (“APB 23”) that foreign earnings are permanently reinvested, companies are required to provide a deferred tax liability when outside ownership interest basis is lower for tax than it is for books for certain foreign operations.  A proper APB 23 assertion avoids this deferred tax liability, often resulting in a lower overall effective tax rate.

In today’s sluggish global economy, companies may find it more difficult to demonstrate that foreign earnings are not needed in the US to meet current cash demands.  Common concerns include debt service requirements and covenants. Care should be taken to document global cash sources and uses as this area continues to be a focus for external auditors and financial statement regulators. (more…)

On April 9, we announced the acquisition of Fast Facts, a provider of corporate tax software solutions in India.  The acquisition was a collaborative effort between Global Growth & Operations and Tax & Accounting.  Fast Facts represents our initial entry into the tax software market in India and provides one of the key foundations for our Tax & Accounting business that we will be growing rapidly in India.

Headquartered in Mumbai, India with 35 employees, Fast Facts is the leading tax withholding software provider in India. Fast Facts’ tax software solutions are used by businesses in India to help streamline processes and manage the growing number of legislative changes. With approximately 10,000 customers that include small firms, multi-national corporations and the Big 4 (KPMG, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers), the acquisition of Fast Facts is an exciting venture for Tax & Accounting as it marks our initial entry into the growing tax software market in India.

As the tax and accounting industry continues to break global boundaries and companies look to expand into new and emerging markets, they need the information and local expertise to stay in compliance. Fast Facts, now with the resources of Tax & Accounting and Thomson Reuters, will look to capitalize on this new industry trend and continue to provide sophisticated tax software solutions to multi-national corporations.

Thomson Reuters has always viewed India as a growing market and a vital contributor to our success. Outside of the U.S., India represents our second largest location within Thomson Reuters with over 10,000 employees – 800 of those employees dedicated to Tax & Accounting operations. (more…)