Tax rule changes, ATO swoops prompt businesses to assess risks

These new reporting requirements include country-by-country reporting, which mandates that companies of a certain size and economic activity have had to change the way they report income. 

For software companies like Thomson Reuters, who have worked with Australian businesses as part of a change management process, awareness is high about the need to change process and frameworks to adapt to a tougher regulatory environment. 

“What we’re seeing in the marketplace across the board is the increase in ATO activity around tax governance, and tax governance is really trying to reveal the overall framework that corporations have around assessing their tax risks and tax exposures,” said Hydar Al Ammar, regional lead at Thomson Reuters. 

“What we’re seeing is the ATO no longer just trying to ensure that it is accurate; i.e. what amounts they are receiving is accurate, but understanding the methodology to get there.

“Because of that, we are seeing organisations, particularly those in the top 1,000, which are being targeted for their tax governance reviews, are reaching out to evaluate and to understand how does tax technology help improve their overall tax governance framework, and the particular focus that we’ve seen is around indirect tax.”

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