Tax transparency push may not deliver desired outcomes

Technology and the cloud

Almost all (97%) of respondents said advanced technology is playing a critical role in helping them do their jobs. Additionally, 82% see cloud and hosted solutions as the top trend over the next three years. However, only 40% of those surveyed plan to move their tax software to cloud-based or hosted solutions, citing data security (50%) and availability/reliability (41%) as their greatest concerns.

A third of respondents also said cost was a key impediment to them adopting cloud-based or hosted solutions. But this is a “false economy”, said Brindle, noting that the benefits of moving to a cloud solution can be significant with major cost savings and improved efficiencies.

Furthermore, 55% of respondents said they would not consider using mobile applications to access their work on the move, further highlighting the slow adoption rate of technologies which are viewed as less secure than in-house software or hardware.

Other key findings

Other key findings from the survey included:

• There was a 7% increase (to 93%) in electronic lodging to the ATO year-on-year, reflecting the phasing-in of Standard Business Reporting (SBR) for Australian companies. Despite this, close to half (42%) of respondents indicated they were unsure whether they supported SBR.
• Only 11% of respondents indicated their company had any plans for off-shoring, and of those, most indicated that off-shoring was most likely to occur in markets such as India or the Philippines.
• There was a 2% rise (to 54%) in respondents indicating they hold regular meetings to keep their directors abreast of changes in tax regulation and legislation.
• A total of 37% of respondents indicated their business would increase investment in people, processes and technology in order to deal with GST risk over the coming years.

The survey results show businesses are still very concerned about tax compliance and its cost. While the survey spoke to tax directors at leading companies, several of the concerns noted would resonate with smaller businesses too.

Terry Hayes is the editor-in-chief of tax news reporting at Thomson Reuters, a leading Australian provider of tax, accounting and legal information solutions.