Short-term business travelers. Senior management buy-in, program design, implementation and beyond

Transcription

1 Short-term business travelers Senior management buy-in, program design, implementation and beyond

2 Disclaimer EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young LLP is a client-serving member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited operating in the US. This presentation is 2015 EYGM Limited. All Rights Reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted or otherwise distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including by photocopying, facsimile transmission, recording, rekeying or using any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Ernst & Young LLP. Any reproduction, transmission or distribution of this form or any of the material herein is prohibited and is in violation of US and international law. Ernst & Young LLP expressly disclaims any liability in connection with use of this presentation or its contents by any third party. Views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent the views of Ernst & Young LLP. This presentation is provided solely for the purpose of enhancing knowledge on tax matters. It does not provide tax advice to any taxpayer because it does not take into account any specific taxpayer s facts and circumstances. These slides are for educational purposes only and are not intended, and should not be relied upon, as accounting advice. Page 2

3 Agenda Introduction and overview of short-term business traveler (STBT) programs Where are you in the STBT life cycle? (ALL*) What does your program cover? (ALL*) What size is your traveling population? (ALL*) Triggers, developing a business case and challenges to obtaining buy-in Trigger events (SunGard and BT) Developing a business case (Invesco) Buy-in challenges (ALL*) Implementation challenges and policy considerations Data sources (ALL*) Business rules and establishing risk thresholds (ALL*) Change management, training and communications (SunGard) Compliance processes (BT and SunGard) *Includes SunGard, BT and Invesco Page 3

4 Today s presenters Abigail Harris Senior Director International Mobility SunGard Crystal Farmer Head of Global Payroll Invesco Laurie Griffith- Jones Head of Employment Taxes BT Jay Sternberg Partner Ernst & Young LLP Page 4

5 Introduction and overview of STBT programs Page 5

6 Business conversation The potential mission Key questions Does your organization have a centralized process for identifying and reviewing the tax, social security and immigration compliance requirements of your business travelers before they travel? Business information Federal, state and local tax withholding Social security, Medicare and other insurances Payroll operations Do you have a formal policy for addressing the risk and compliance requirements for your business travelers? Cost Business traveler challenges Reputational risk Do you have access to real-time data on immigration and tax requirements for the countries to which your employees travel? Policy compliance Personal tax compliance Do you worry that business travelers are triggering immigration, tax, social security or permanent establishment liabilities? Employment law Permanent establishment risk Business regulation risk Immigration Page 6

7 Maturity model The journey and initial mission Leading 6 Full integration 7 into pre-travel process Multiple data source reconciliation Global organizations view the STBT issue with varying levels of urgency, and implement programs that vary considerably in terms of levels of compliance. The early stages 1 and 2 show the identification and recognition of the issue and an exploration of who owns the issue from an operational perspective. Developing Established Advanced Evolution Country solution to address a single risk Global solution to address multiple risks Ownership Global solution to address a single risk From stage 2 to 3, it is clear that fundamental to the deployment of a solution is the quality of information available. Priority focus at this stage is usually on one significant traffic lane that presents a key business risk. At stage 3 and 4, the scale of the issue becomes significant given the large volumes of employees traveling and the complexity of regulation. Implementation and often investment at this level is significant. Entry level 1 Awareness Segmented Compliance Comprehensive At stage 5 and 6, global solutions are commonly developed through a piloting process and building out across priority countries/areas. The solution evolves to address multiple risks (including immigration, travel sanctions) as well as providing quality management information (MI) on employee travel patterns, costs and activity. Page 7

8 Overview of STBT program SunGard SunGard Provider of software and IT services to institutions in financial services industry Headquartered in US hot spots in India, Middle East, Indonesia, Africa Formal presence in 30 countries, but travel to 110 countries Approximately 14,000 trips per year Program launch August 2013 (completion of global rollout May 2015) Integrated program that covers both immigration and tax Assessment details entered into travel pre-approval request form for approval by manager Challenge with professional services teams Page 8

9 Overview of STBT Program BT BT Domestic and international networks sales and engineering Headquartered in UK hot spots in Europe and India Formal presence in 70 countries but opportunities/activities can span in more than 100 countries 10,000 business trips per year Program launch date open Strong focus on tax and social security Large number of commuters Immigration managed separately Page 9

10 Overview of STBT Program Invesco Invesco Program launch date estimated 1 January 2016 Initial focus on tax, with particular focus on executive population Asset management industry Headquartered in the US with hot spots in UK, India, Australia and Hong Kong On-the-ground presence in more than 20 countries, serving clients in 150 countries Page 10

11 Triggers, developing a business case and challenges in obtaining buy-in Page 11

12 Triggers for implementing a STBT program SunGard BT Competitor was subpoenaed in the US for misuse of visas Tax audit in Europe of STBTs Tax penalties were more than cost of two years of running proposed STBT program Acquired a company, three people in situ for six years Created a permanent establishment (PE) and no personal or value-added tax (VAT) filing Impact paid millions ( ) in tax, penalties and fees Page 12

13 Building a business case Invesco Undertook tax risk assessment of traveling population Reviewed 12 months of data for international and domestic STBTs Included compensation to calculate taxes and quantify risk Utilized data from global travel provider Identified compliance gaps to present to leadership to obtain buy-in and consensus on business rules and program rollout Engaged relevant business stakeholders (CFO, VP of Tax, Payroll, Mobility, Travel and HR) Obtained executive sponsorship from CFO Page 13

14 Challenges in obtaining buy-in What fundamental challenges did you encounter when obtaining buy-in? How did you overcome these challenges? What worked vs. what didn t work? Did you adopt a collaborative approach with stakeholders? Who were the key stakeholders? How are your programs funded? Are costs passed down to the business or centrally funded? What is one key takeaway for the audience to consider when trying to obtain buy-in? Page 14

15 Implementation challenges Page 15

16 Data sources What data sources do you currently utilize to identify your business traveler populations? Directly from employee (e.g., pre-trip questionnaires, calendar, smart phone technology) Corporate sources (e.g., time and expense, travel provider) Is compensation included as part of the analysis? What challenges have you encountered when collecting and analyzing employee data? Page 16

17 Business rules and establishing risk thresholds Do you have business rules implemented as part of your STBT programs? Do they cover tax, immigration or both? How did you set your business rules? What benchmarking did you undertake when setting business rules? Did you obtain stakeholder consensus when establishing risk thresholds? Page 17

18 Change management and communications How did you manage the change management and communication process? What difficulties did you encounter when launching your STBT program? Did you offer training for employees? What advice would you offer to the audience with respect to change management and communications when launching a STBT program? Page 18

19 Compliance processes What processes did you implement to help ensure compliance for immigration and tax? Immigration compliance considerations Tax compliance Compensation accumulation Data validation Payroll/withholding taxes (real time?) Individual tax returns and treaty claims Social security and certificates of coverage Corporate tax Page 19

20 Questions? Page 20