Tax management is only a burden for the unprepared. CFO will show you how to confidently stand up to the scrutiny from auditors, executives, and investors. Own your corporate income tax processes with these seven strategies.
1. Don’t Just Plan, Strategize
To be sure, tax strategy is often ancillary to a business’ strategic decision-making process. But if it’s incorporated into the earlier stages of corporate decision-making, tax strategy can become a powerful tool for minimizing a company’s effective tax rate, thereby increasing cash flow and creating more opportunities for business investment.
Full article: Why Tax Planning Should Be Melded with Strategy
2. Know How to Navigate Global Tax
For companies willing to invest the time and resources into carefully mapping out a strategy for international expansion, the payoff can be significant. This is particularly true for mid-market companies, which have traditionally shied away from globalization in favor of domestic transactions. However, navigating the multitude of policies and regulations across different countries can be daunting, and it can be easy to lose sight of the big picture. If your company is ready to manage the associated risks, here are three recommendations to help mid-market executives.
Full article: Three Rules for Navigating the Global Tax Maze
3. Stay Confident and Optimistic
Uncertainty about the U.S. economy is nagging at the nation’s CFOs, reflecting, in part, the gridlock in Congress over tax reform, according to Grant Thornton. The accounting firm reports that finance chiefs are relatively sanguine about the future, with 48% expecting the U.S. economy to remain the same over the next six months while 43% feel the economy will improve. Only 9% see things getting worse. But more than half (55%) of CFOs said uncertainty about the U.S. economy is a major concern that could impact their businesses’ growth in the next 12 months.
Full article: Tax Breaks Gridlock Weighs on CFOs
4. Take Advantage of Tax Reform
At the same time, no consistency across states means even more operational resources are required to remain in compliance. At first glance, the dizzying array of recent tax law changes and the burden put on businesses to keep up with them appear to have a significant and adverse impact on businesses. However, as the saying goes, if life (or in this case, the government), gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Full article: How to Take Advantage of State and Local Tax Reform
5. Know When to Spend
Believe it or not, a majority of business leaders wouldn’t mind if their companies paid more taxes — as long as tax authorities were more upfront and transparent about what is acceptable. When asked if they would welcome more global cooperation and guidance from tax authorities on what is acceptable and unacceptable tax planning — 75% of business leaders said “yes,” up from 53% one year earlier, according to the Grant Thornton International Business Report.
Full article: Businesses Willing to Pay Higher Taxes if Rules Are Clarified
6. Don’t Get Bullied
No, states should not be allowed to require tax collection by out-of-state retailers, according to one expert. The Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) or the new and dramatically worse Remote Transactions Parity Act (RTPA) are not acceptable solutions to collecting use taxes owed to the states on remote purchases. The states have made very little effort to educate and enforce their existing use tax laws on the books.
Full article: Don’t Let States Make Outside Retailers Collect Sales Taxes
7. Be On the Lookout
Although President Obama’s signing of the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 on June 29 arrived with much fanfare, the penalties imposed by the act have received almost no attention. The provision could have consequences for companies that misreport a name or a tax ID number on a W-2; a 1099 form reporting payments made to vendors, lawyers, doctors, and the like; or on the new reporting forms associated with the Affordable Care Act. Do your research and be aware of these hidden penalties.
Full article: Beware Stiff Tax Penalties Buried in New Trade Law
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