Digital transformation of the tax department

Digitalisation and the changes, opportunities and risks associated with it have been frequent topics for discussion for a long time in all fields of tax law. The use of digital technologies and expertise is becoming increasingly more important. This is why it is necessary to keep an eye on developments and find individual solutions for your own company.

Find out more from our free study on the status of digitalisation in German tax departments. The results of our survey of tax managers from more than 120 companies provide insights into various aspects.

• How is the tax department's role changing within the company?
• How well-prepared are tax departments with regard to digital transformation?
• What is the significance of a strategic approach?
• What influence does digitalisation have on the technology landscape and tax processes?
• Which technologies play a role? What is the potential of artificial intelligence, robotics, blockchain & co.?
• What is the status for the rollout of SAP S/4HANA?

We wish to thank the study participants from companies of all sizes and sectors.

• Tax managers are striving for a new role for their tax department: instead of the current role as staff office/compliance department, they wish increasingly to become business partners and value creators within the company and thus to actively shape business changes.
• In the process, they are focusing on the increasing digitalisation of the tax function, but also see the need to make up ground compared with the overall company.
• Digitalisation efforts demand a strategic approach in line with the entire company's digitalisation strategy.
• Microsoft Excel is currently the most important software used in tax departments – but in future tax managers are focusing more on technologies that are less used to date, such as workflow, data analysis and visualisation tools as well as process automation.
• The level of digitalisation of tax processes varies according to the individual tax type, from income tax to customs duties.
• Even today, the technology solutions deployed are often only partially interconnected.
• Expertise and employees' willingness to embrace change are critical success factors for the success of the digitalisation strategy.
• The outsourcing of tax activities is increasingly playing a role.

We are happy to provide you with the detailed findings of the survey. You can download the study "Digital transformation of the tax department" free of charge here