Measure performance When high risk indirect tax areas and lowest performing VAT processes - that have a direct impact on the company's VAT objectives - have been identified, the next step is to measure the performance in term of effectiveness and efficiency of each of these processes.
"Measure the magnitude of that problem, determine why the problem exists, and generate a set of solutions to ensure that the problem goes away."
The first phase is however a zero measurement that identifies key indirect tax risks and worst performing processes that in the end should be improved. Verify indirect tax performance could be done via:
Normative VAT Control Framework
VAT control framework After the zero measurement, a toolkit should enable to assess and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of a company's current control framework. A normative VAT Control Framework is used as a yardstick for comparison purposes and will indicate how the steps should be taken in an ideal world (gap analysis).
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HMRC International Benchmarking report 2011
Benchmark – Cost and Effectiveness of GST/VAT Risk Assessment
In order to get buy-in from senior management it is often about setting the right priorities, understanding the root cause of underperforming and select a method for measurement that best fits.
The deck explains what a tax function could do to get indirect tax higher on the priority list of senior management.
Written by Richard Cornelisse
Richard advises multinational businesses in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their Indirect Tax Function and Tax Control Framework.
He started his career as a manager at Arthur Andersen and then became an EY partner where he led the indirect tax performance team for Netherlands and Belgium. Currently, he is a managing director of SAP Tax Consultancy Firm.
Richard has over 20 years of experience advising clients on international VAT issues. He is specialized in the tax aspects of financial transformations, shared service center migration, and post-merger integration work.
