Deloitte’s ‘Tax in 2020’ Initiative Includes an Unprecedented Investment to Create a New Digital Client Experience

Initiative Reinforces the Business’ Commitment to Helping Clients Navigate a Complex Tax Landscape with Innovative and Flexible Solutions That Deliver Insights and Value

Deloitte shared more details of its global ‘Tax in 2020’ initiative, a three-year digital transformation plan launched in 2018. The plan is anchored by its unprecedented investment in building a seamless global tax experience for its clients. Tax in 2020 is focused on reimagining how clients navigate the increasing change and complexity in the tax profession. This plan will foster Deloitte’s ability to deliver value, provide the insights that clients require to better manage their tax filing obligations, and assist with respect to their financial statement reporting responsibilities. In addition, this transformational change will elevate the tax department’s role in strategic decision making and it will result in the identification and mitigation of risks.

A convergence of factors, including rapidly changing technology, the evolving regulatory landscape including US Tax Reform, the enactment into law of many of the OECD’s recommendations arising from the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Study (“BEPS”) by numerous taxing jurisdictions throughout the world, and the recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), just to name a few, along with the challenges of finding, developing, and retaining high-quality professionals amid increasing budget pressures have placed tax digital transformation front and center for the tax profession.

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“Tax departments are at a pivotal point and must take control of their own business transformation,” said Steve Kimble, chairman and chief executive officer, Deloitte Tax LLP. “While we have been at the forefront of investing in innovative tax solutions for years, we made the decision to increase the investment and pace of our digital transformation strategy in 2018.”

“Tax in 2020 showcases Deloitte’s commitment to helping our clients address not only current, but equally as important — future tax priorities. This strategic investment focuses our world class tax capabilities, including deep technical acumen, industry specialization, and technological solutions by putting them to work in an effective manner for our clients. The collaboration created through a focus on these disciplines will position our people to focus on drawing clarity out of tremendously complex tax issues, and working alongside our clients as trusted advisors, to identify and deliver value.”

With its Tax in 2020 initiative, Deloitte has launched an integrated program focused on:

• Technology Innovation – Deloitte’s Tax Transformation and Innovation team consists of more than 1000 data scientists, STEM professionals, and tax domain technology specialists who leverage top-tier technology vendors to develop leading edge digital capabilities and cloud-based solutions that create an enhanced and more seamless client experience. One example where technology and tax technical specialists have built a real-world solution is CognitiveTax Insight, a Deloitte-developed optical character recognition and machine learning based analytics solution already in the market. CogTax effectively analyzes data, assists clients with indirect tax overpayment recovery, and reduces the potential for future over/underpayments.

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• Integrated Experience – Deloitte is creating an integrated global platform that automates many of the most cumbersome aspects of tax compliance. Several of Deloitte’s existing applications are efficiently addressing these tasks, including the iPACS suite which supports tax obligations across federal, state, and global tax reporting regimes for financial services organizations. Through the iPACS platform, data is retrieved from source systems, transformed for various tax calculations and reporting requirements, processed through rules engines, transmitted to standardized review reports, and made available for review and analysis via embedded analytics. The platform is an unparalleled integrated solution with powerful business intelligence.
• Operations Transformation for Tax – The “right” tax operating model means something different for every company. Deloitte is working with clients to customize the talent, processes, and technology that make sense for them, exploring options for future tax operating models and identifying opportunities to create efficiency improvements, cost savings, resource reallocations, and increased business value.

“At Deloitte, we are pivoting from ‘doing digital’ to ‘being digital’ — and we’re helping our clients do the same,” said Chuck Kosal, chief strategy and innovation officer at Deloitte Tax LLP. “Succeeding in this digital world demands that we reimagine how we engage with our clients, deliver our services, operate our business, and create value. We recognize that we must lead the way on innovation to be able to bring our clients real solutions to real problems. As we enter the next phase of Tax in 2020, we are confident of the journey ahead and the benefits to be achieved.”

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