Tax Reimagined

Client Profile

A global FORTUNE 500 diversified financial services firm with asset management operations in the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Client Challenge

The client wanted to create a new TOM for tax operations that would:

—  Be cost effective

— Be flexible and scalable

—  Reduce risk

—  Enhance its service offerings to internal and external stakeholders.

KPMG's Approach

Since being engaged as the client’s tax operations vendor in the United States, Europe, and Canada following a highly competitive process more than a year ago, KPMG has:

—   Successfully on boarded the third-party investment funds served by the client in the United States and Europe onto KPMG’s proprietary global technology platform, built specifically for funds and asset managers, with deployment in Canada planned to begin in 2018

—  Enabled the client to reduce people, process, and technology costs across its business operations

—  Enhanced the timeliness, quality, and breadth of service offerings available to the client’s internal and external stakeholders.

Critical Success Factors Applicable to the Company

— Taking an end-to-end view of the existing tax function is a critical first step for a successful transformation

—   A well-designed governance structure enables a smooth transition of work from an existing provider to a new operating model

—  Leveraging KPMG’s technology permits clients to extract greater insights from tax- related data and compliance activities and free up internal resources to support additional business priorities and stakeholders.

Client Profile

Global pharmaceutical company

Client Challenge

— This large global pharmaceutical group required assistance with global compliance to both reduce costs and risk.

— Their vision included the transformation of compliance through the use of technology and reformed processes.

— The company was impressed by our flexible and innovative approach together with the ability to transfer their existing employees to KPMG.

KPMG's Approach

Transition of regional Shared Services providing compliance and accounting services to a KPMG Managed Service. Included the transition of staff from client to KPMG.

— Our Managed Service was provided through a hybrid delivery model combining our Delivery Centers and Local Country Compliance Teams. This enabled effective use of technology, standardized processes and local country experience.

—  Standardized compliance process across countries and regions to bring efficiencies in process and higher quality compliance deliverables.

— Developed a technology and transformation road-map to implement automation and technology improvements driving efficiency and opportunity identification.

Critical Success Factors Applicable to the Company

— Need for timely and accurate filings across the engagement.

— Access to tax planning to support a tax rate reduction.

— Improved group year-end reporting-providing enhanced tax analysis for senior management and greater assurance to the company’s auditor.

— Visibility of tax attributes and risks globally.

— Simplified and consistent global delivery processes.

Client Profile

Large multinational with large volumes of intercompany transactions in various jurisdictions around the world, grappling with decentralized and disparate IT systems housing the data.

Client Challenge

— Gathering, compiling and comparing data from disparate systems is a time consuming, manual process.

— Difficulty maintaining version control of documents.

— Lack of visibility into what is similar and different among reports.

KPMG’s Approach

Transition of regional Shared Services providing compliance and accounting services to a KPMG Managed Service. Included the transition of staff from client to KPMG.

— Our Managed Service was provided through a hybrid delivery model combining our Delivery Centers and Local Country Compliance Teams. This enabled effective use of technology, standardized processes and local country experience.

— Standardized compliance process across countries and regions to bring efficiencies in process and higher quality compliance deliverables.

— Developed a technology and transformation road-map to implement automation and technology improvements driving efficiency and opportunity identification.

Critical Success Factors Applicable to the Company

— Need for timely and accurate filings across the engagement.

— Access to tax planning to support a tax rate reduction.

— Improved group year-end reporting-providing enhanced tax analysis for senior management and greater assurance to the company’s auditor.

— Visibility of tax attributes and risks globally.

— Simplified and consistent global delivery processes.

Client Profile

Multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 53,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories.

Client Challenge

— Cumbersome and costly indirect tax process.

— Limited automation with broken audit trails and missing documentation.

— Manual processes laden with redundancies and inefficiencies.

KPMG’s Approach

— Provide full outsourcing of indirect tax processes, including tax calculations, tax return preparation, and tax consulting.

— Start with a consolidated service team working collaboratively to transition key processes and to enhance those retained by the business.

— Provide overall project oversight, while managing each tax process within its timeline.

— Transition processes according to critical need and placement in the tax cycle.

— Document the steps in the process and fully communicate with the client throughout the project.

Critical Success Factors Applicable to the Company

— Assign a strong project leader who can be dedicated to the entire project.

— Establish open and clear communication channels.

— Raise issues, roadblocks, concerns and questions timely and work them through to resolution.

— Obtain buy-in and commitment from all team members and hold everyone accountable for their component of the project.

Client Profile

A global leader in Point of Sale systems and integrated in store solutions that operates in 70+ countries across all region.

Client Challenge

— In adopting a new global business model, our client wanted to ensure it maintained governance and oversight of its Indirect Tax function while reducing the cost of compliance.

— To achieve this, client’s tax function was tasked with establishing new VAT/GST governance and compliance processes with significantly reduced headcount (and resultant loss of knowledge).

KPMG’s Approach

—  Took a proactive approach to transitioning the significant volume of compliance work under a big bang approach and assisted the client to centrally identify its global compliance obligations by building out an

— Created an exhaustive compliance calendar (data and reporting requirements, submission deadlines, etc.) to determine transition priorities.

— Implemented an effective communication protocol and worked closely with the client’s local finance teams to improve their processes both in terms of transaction data and timeliness, and helped to reduce indirect tax risk in the relevant entities.

— Our US team closely monitored transition progress and execution in each relevant country, ensuring both risk areas and opportunities identified as part of this process were relayed back to the Tax team for action.

Critical Success Factors Applicable to the Company

— The early implementation and use of communication protocols are vitally important. Adopting a holistic approach to compliance across jurisdictions drives efficiencies and acts as a catalyst for optimization of local indirect tax practices (e.g. use of local reliefs, approach to VAT recovery).

— Data/systems issues and gaps remediated during the transition period will very likely have a positive impact on VAT recovery, cash flow, audit risk, and local productivity.