2022 Chief Tax Officer Outlook

3rd annual CTO survey examines the future of tax in an unprecedented business environment

Regulatory changes. Shifting work models. Technology disruption. The ESG movement. An active M&A market.

Myriad changes are affecting all aspects of tax operations. How are Chief Tax Officers navigating this new world? What risks keep them up at night? What prospects do they see unfolding? And what actions are they taking now to drive greater value in the new reality?

Rather than speculate, we went straight to the source, surveying 126 CTOs from companies across all major industries with revenue of $500 million or more. The 2022 Chief Tax Officer Outlook—the third in our annual series—shares respondent views about the challenges and opportunities facing tax functions today and tomorrow.

In today’s quickly evolving and increasingly complex tax environment, with a wave of tax changes potentially on the horizon, tax leaders must make their functions more efficient, accurate, and future-ready.

- Greg Engel, Vice Chair – Tax, KPMG

Delivering a peek inside the minds of today’s top tax leaders, this report is intended to expand understanding of the future of tax and the evolving tax landscape. It features forward-looking perspectives on key CTO agenda items including:

Tax risks
Pending legislation
Talent strategy
ESG initiatives
Technology and D&A
and M&A transactions.

What's on the minds of Chief Tax Officers

78%

of CTOs say regulatory risk is the greatest threat to their organizations over the next 3 years with talent risk next at 52%.

46%

of CTOs expect international agreement on the OECD’s Pillar I and II proposals

58%

of CTOs are increasing training/reskilling existing tax professionals as their top talent strategy with 38% adding tax technologists

52%

of CTOs describe their target operating model as primarily in-house with discrete use of advisers

60%

of CTOs say Tax has been engaged with ESG initiatives, but other teams are leading the charge

50%

of CTO feel their team’s connectivity to M&A transactions is high

In August 2021, KPMG surveyed 126 Chief Tax Officers (CTOs) at large public and private U.S. companies about how they are leading their organizations’ tax function through a period of vast change. All CTOs came from companies with revenue of $500 million or more, including 71 percent from companies with revenue of $10 billion or more. They represented all major industries with the biggest groups being from food, drink & consumer goods (12%), banking and finance (10%), and insurance (10%).