How CFOs are turning indirect tax into a growth opportunity
For years, indirect tax was treated as a back-office headache – necessary to manage but rarely considered a source of value. In the fast-moving technology sector, that mindset is changing. CFOs are discovering that modernizing tax operations is not just about staying compliant; it is about gaining an edge.
By rethinking indirect tax as part of the broader strategic agenda, finance leaders are finding new ways to strengthen controls, cut costs, and support global expansion, all while turning a former liability into a competitive asset.
Legacy tax systems bog down finance teams with manual reconciliations, spreadsheet dependencies, and high audit exposure. These inefficiencies represent hidden tech debt, draining resources and slowing innovation.
Forward-looking finance functions are now leveraging cloud-native tax platforms and automated workflows.
These tools extract, cleanse, validate, and process tax transactions in real time, allowing teams to update tax logic instantly to match evolving global rules, reducing error risk and scaling easily during acquisitions or new product rollouts.
According to Deloitte, nearly a quarter of tax functions plan to implement ERP systems customized for tax in the next year, yet only 37 percent have fully adopted global tax change monitoring tools.
By automating routine transactions, CFOs free up skilled tax professionals to focus on value-adding activities, including scenario planning, M&A structuring, and capital decisions that directly impact EBITDA and cash flow.
In many organizations, tax-related data is dispersed across finance, procurement, sales, and ERP systems, leaving tax teams vulnerable to calculation errors and reporting gaps.
CFOs now insist on unified tax data repositories and real-time integration with operational systems. Centralized tax data ensures consistency in financial reporting and enables CFOs to model tax implications with confidence.
Tax technology partners like Thomson Reuters and Vertex deliver integrated e-invoicing solutions that connect with VAT engines, AR, and AP workflows, providing a single system of record for compliance and analytics.
Reactive tax functions expose companies to audit disruptions, fines, and working capital disruptions.
Finance leaders now view tax compliance as an ongoing risk-management exercise rather than a periodic checkbox. Modern platforms offer real-time dashboards and alerts for anomalies, enabling teams to address discrepancies quickly.
By building comprehensive audit trails, conducting automated reconciliations, and embedding continuous checking, indirect tax becomes central not only to compliance but also financial controls.
Furthermore, executives now consider federal-level digital tax initiatives—like OECD Pillar Two and global e?invoicing mandates—as impetus, not hindrance, for transformation.
CFOs recognize the shrinking pool of indirect tax expertise, especially amid burnout and turnover in compliance teams. As a response, automation is minimizing reliance on manual labor, enabling existing professionals to be reallocated to strategic planning rather than data entry.
Tax teams are upskilled in data governance, analytics, and scenario modeling, making them more adaptable and resilient.
Employees gain satisfaction by engaging in high-impact work like transfer pricing analysis or supply chain tax modeling, which aligns directly with business outcomes and elevates the indirect tax function into a value generator.
As tech companies expand across borders, they face jurisdictional complexity, e-invoicing mandates, and live reporting requirements.
Non-compliance can result in significant fines and revenue disruption.
CFOs increasingly deploy tax frameworks that automatically update logic across dozens of VAT/GST regimes, support real-time invoice validation, and adapt quickly to new mandates, such as the EU ViDA initiative or mandates rolling out in Latin America and Asia.
This scalability ensures consistent compliance irrespective of geography, enabling aggressive growth without adding proportional resources.