"In the past 12 months, we have seen the emotion of the global debate over tax morality and fairness shift to action by legislative and regulatory bodies." - Greg Wiebe

It demonstrates the growing recognition that many aspects of current tax systems could be improved to better reflect a global, and increasingly digital, economy.

Changing tax landscape

The most prominent action is taking place with the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) which has been tasked by the G20 with recommending wholesale changes to global tax systems to address the ‘double nontaxation’ issue that can exist because of gaps in the current tax systems.

The OECD has released its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), which provides the framework to massively transform tax regulation, greatly expanding the exchange of tax information between governments. The plan is targeted for completion in 2015 and, while it may take 5 years or so to be fully implemented, the impact is already being felt.

In Europe, corporations are also facing significant disruption as a result of EU audit reform legislation that has the potential to, in most cases, prohibit a corporation's auditor from also providing tax services. We are providing counsel on the implications of new legislation and what clients need to do to ensure they have the tax compliance and planning support they require.

Helping multinationals comply

There is increasing demand for tax services from multinationals that are navigating the incredible complexities of compliance with rapidly changing rules and regulations. These include large multinationals like Siemens, with widely dispersed workforces, as well as others that have centralized finance functions and now realize they cannot keep pace with their compliance requirements everywhere they do business without help.

Multinationals not only need to ensure they are complying wherever they operate, they also want to do it in a way that contributes value to their business and does not create additional risk. These companies increasingly find that KPMG professionals are trusted advisors who understand their strategy and global footprint, and have the right knowledge and solution sets to meet complex compliance needs.

Innovation for a data intelligence solution

Accessing and analyzing huge amounts of data is an increasing part of tax compliance and planning. KPMG innovation in data and analytics is bringing advanced capabilities to this process. KPMG’s 'Tax Intelligence Solution’ enables clients to access every piece of data and to understand their business in ways they could not before. Other tax solutions allow clients to access a dashboard that shows the status of every tax filing around the world, all managed by KPMG professionals.

Moving tax

The scale and complexity of global tax systems

“Accessing and analyzing huge amounts of data is an increasing part of tax compliance and planning. KPMG innovation in data and analytics is bringing advanced capabilities to this process.”

demands professionals who are experienced working across borders and have a deep understanding of international tax regimes. In 2014, approximately 300 KPMG tax professionals took on mobility assignments, and we expect that to continue to increase in coming years. As a result, we are able to mobilize teams to help ensure the right resources are in the right locations to serve global, regional and local clients.