TAX DEPARTMENT PROFITABILITY: HOW TO TURN YOUR TAX DEPARTMENT INTO A REVENUE PRODUCER

Transcription

1 TAX DEPARTMENT PROFITABILITY: HOW TO TURN YOUR TAX DEPARTMENT INTO A REVENUE PRODUCER Janette M. Lohman Partner Thompson Coburn LLP St. Louis, MO jlohman@thompsoncoburn.com Peggi Rockefeller Chief Tax Officer Transaction Tax Vertex Inc. Berwyn, PA peggi.rockefeller@vertexinc.com 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan

2 LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Better understand how you can affect positive changes within your tax department to increase tax s personal brand within your company. Identify tax planning and cost saving opportunities, so your corporate executives will include you at the beginning of their business planning process before the deals are inked IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 2

3 LEARNING OBJECTIVES (cont.) : Employ out of the box thinking to create revenue for your company. Understand the overall influence of the tax department s activities and how they can have a direct and meaningful impact to business profitability IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 3

4 The Global Tax Challenge: 1 st Fully Automate save time and $ 2 nd Bring in $1M from indirect tax operations Identify opportunities Gain buy-in from the organization Keep it fun 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 4

5 Identify Opportunities with the Tax Team Locate and Utilize Tax Overpayments Acquisition and Reorganization Planning Tax Credits and Incentives Review Unclaimed Property Review 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 5

6 Identify Opportunities with the Tax Team Locate and Utilize Tax Overpayments Authorize self-conducted or outside reverse SUT audits to ensure that tax audits locate overpayments as well as underpayments. Why wait for the audit to conduct the reverse audits? Ensure systems are charging the right tax rates against only taxable items IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 6

7 Identify Opportunities with the Tax Team Acquisition and Reorganization Planning Thorough incentives analysis Compliance with state tax clearance procedures or quantify potential liability for indemnification Pre-acquisition SUT review Jurisdiction surveys Risky tax shelter structures Protective contractual tax provisions to determine and allocate tax liabilities and responsibilities for post-acquisition audits 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 7

8 Identify Opportunities with the Tax Team Tax Credits and Incentives Review Cross-disciplinary analysis Income/SUT/Property Non-tax incentives Business expansion and/or reorganization Job creation with capital expenditures or capital expenditures without job creation Internal reorganizations Business Retention Transferable Tax Credits 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 8

9 Identify Opportunities with the Tax Team Unclaimed Property Review Adopt best practices in your internal controls for unclaimed property reporting to: Look at your Company s unclaimed property Identify and resolve outstanding liabilities Reconcile accounts to prevent overpayment Document formal compliance roadmap Real/Personal Property Tax Evaluation 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 9

10 Alternate Strategy - Find Low Hanging Fruit by Avoiding Repetitive Mistakes 1st How many tax audit issues have you handled (and lost) that could have been avoided (and/or that you ve seen more than once)? 2 nd Develop a presentation for the purchasing/contracts/cost and pricing managers to teach them how to identify SUT and issues and call you in before the mistakes are made IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 10

11 Examples of Avoidable Mistakes: Failure to charge proper tax rates Failure to keep current or properly filed exemption certificates or document exempt use Failure to meet statutory deadlines Failure to take advantage of timely payment discounts Inefficient tax structuring of intercompany transactions 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 11

12 Examples of Avoidable Mistakes: Acquisition/Reorganization Perils Failure to negotiate and allocate responsibility for tax liability and payment for tax audits Failure to identify and unwind risky tax shelter structures in target acquisitions Failure to consider incentives analyses before making the decision to acquire Failure to appoint someone to coordinate actual receipt of incentives 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 12

13 Gain Buy-In from the Organization Communicate the challenge to key stakeholders Utilize your business relationships and form new ones CIO/ IT Real Estate/Personal Property/Fixed Assets Legal Treasury Shared Services- A/P and A/R 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 13

14 Keep It Fun Meetings to solicit feedback Thermometer/Yodeler Recognition/Celebration Think like the business Remember to thank all Contributors Continue communication with key stakeholders Celebrate with a party 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 14

15 Thank you! Questions? 2016 IPT Annual Conference ~ Traverse City, Michigan 15