The tax world is complex, which makes it all the more necessary to stay abreast of industry trends and changes. But that’s easier said than done. Many tax practitioners turn to professional tax organizations to get the information they need. Being part of one or more organizations gives you a leg up because it offers you ways to:

Filing income and property taxes have always been laborious tasks for businesses of any size, even when everything is organized. Collecting information and filling out forms is time-consuming, and even if you choose to use an outside tax filing service, you must meet with a tax preparer in person to walk through documents and answer questions.

Having worked with some of the largest corporate tax teams around, we can say with certainty that most tax workflows are time-consuming and resource-draining operations, and otherwise burdensome. This is because, as humans, we have limits. Even as the volume of data increases, no amount of knowledge or professional experience can enable us to move or process information as quickly as a computer. Hence why today’s leaders are exploring tax workflow automation, the use of digital tools to increase the efficiency of tax practice.

Cloud services are expected to be the backbone of almost all organizations by the year 2025, with the public cloud market estimated to be $124 billion by that time. A public cloud is one where multiple organizations share third party-managed computing services and infrastructure. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions such as cloud tax software fall under this domain. This software provides tax teams, consultants, and individuals with tools and features that help address a multitude of tax concerns.

How has technology changed accounting? Whether you’re a tech enthusiast or used to doing things the old-fashioned way, you can benefit from knowing the answer. The role of technology in accounting has become critical in recent years as more organizations go through digital transformations.

When was the last time you or anyone on your property tax team went home at 5 p.m. on a workday during tax season?

Sounds impossible, right? Well, that was the case with one of our clients, whose office I stopped into recently at the end of a workday. The place was deserted. When I asked where everyone was, the response was, “They went home. They’re done!”

Automation is a concept that’s had the business world abuzz for some time now. Leaders from nearly every industry praise automation for streamlining cumbersome or lengthy processes across the organization. Every functional area can benefit from it, and the tax department is no exception.

To some degree, digital transformation is taking place in nearly every industry, every vertical, and every functional area. But some organizational functions are lagging—the tax department is a good example. In an EY article on the challenges tax leaders are facing in 2021 and beyond, one industry professional shares his thoughts on why:

Remote work has been on the rise for years, and many companies have started to offer flexible work models—in part to attract talent and in part to modernize their operations. But thanks to the global pandemic, companies that previously hadn’t considered flexible work arrangements were suddenly forced to operate remotely.

When even toothbrush manufacturers now claim to use artificial intelligence (AI) in their products, it’s a sign—not that AI has come so far as to be ubiquitous, but that there’s definite confusion about the meaning of the term.