New research reveals why strategic tax professionals go unrecognized and what top performers do differently
Highlights
- Indirect tax professionals shape major business decisions, yet only 32% say their function significantly contributes to organizational objectives
- Regulatory complexity, fragmented data, and shallow AI adoption keep indirect tax's strategic value largely invisible.
- Leading tax professionals close the gap by measuring impact, engaging the C-suite, and building hybrid skills.
Indirect tax professionals shape pricing decisions and guide M&A structures. Yet when the C-suite discusses strategy, they’re often not in the room.
This disconnect is more common than most realize. New Thomson Reuters research finds that only 32% of indirect tax professionals say their function significantly contributes to organizational objectives even though 88% rate their contribution as significant or moderate. The 2026 Indirect Tax Report calls it the contribution gap. This addresses professionals who know their value but are working on teams that can’t yet prove it.
Most tax teams already deliver strategic value. What they don’t do is measure it or communicate it in a way that lands.
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The indirect tax contribution gap, by the numbers
What indirect tax leaders do differently to increase visibility
Report
The contribution gap: Increasing the visibility and influence of indirect tax and compliance
Access report ↗The indirect tax contribution gap, by the numbers
Indirect tax functions already shape major business decisions:
- 59% influence supply chain decisions
- 54% impact pricing strategies
- 39% shape market entry timelines
- 31% guide M&A deal structures
These are strategic contributions that affect revenue and competitive positioning, not back-office tasks.
So why doesn’t leadership see it?
- Wrong metrics: Start with how the work gets measured. Most tax teams are graded on filing accuracy and timeliness, not the supply chain restructuring that saved millions or the M&A diligence that avoided a costly acquisition.
- Wrong rooms: Then there’s who’s in the room. Only 24% of indirect tax professionals regularly engage with C-suite leadership. Most interaction stays within finance (57%) and IT (45%), where the conversations are operational, not strategic.
Strategic value stays invisible and budget requests stall so the cycle repeats. It’s the defining tension in the indirect tax function today.
The pressure points
Regulatory velocity: Keeping up with constantly changing tax rules across multiple jurisdictions is, by a wide margin, the top challenge professionals report.
The hidden tax of fragmentation: 87% of organizations use multiple systems to track and reconcile data across jurisdictions, and it shows when cost, errors, and diverted resources pile up. 85% say manually reconciling that data is either a top operational challenge or adds meaningful extra work, time that would otherwise go toward strategic priorities.
Automation shifts: 99% of indirect tax professionals are already using AI, but most use is shallow. Automated summarization of regulatory updates is the only AI capability more than half of respondents rely on. Predictive audit modeling and agentic workflow automation are each used by less than half. Meanwhile, 49% of indirect tax functions are in the early stages or behind the curve on technology adoption, and early movers keep pulling further ahead.
As automation takes on routine compliance work, it frees up capacity for the strategic work that builds influence for those positioned to use it. One survey respondent put it plainly: “Our tax function lacks enough time to move from compliance to strategic support.”
What indirect tax leaders do differently to increase visibility
They measure what matters
Top professionals have stopped leading with “filings completed on time.” They track business decisions influenced, regulatory risks avoided, and costs reduced through optimization. That makes their strategic impact quantifiable, which is what makes it visible.
They engineer executive access
Only 24% regularly engage the C-suite. Leaders are in that 24%. They run quarterly briefings at the CEO/CFO level and frame the conversation in terms executives already use: risk avoided, value created.
They build hybrid skills
- 54% of organizations expect all staff to need both tax expertise and technology fluency within two years
- What sets leaders apart is the ability to translate tax implications into business language and use data to drive change across functions
- Upskilling team members is the number one planned technology investment
They communicate proactively
They don’t wait to be asked. Leaders anticipate needs and embed themselves earlier in decision cycles instead of reviewing decisions after the fact.
They invest deliberately in technology
- Only 16% formally measure ROI on technology investments. Leaders are in that 16%
- Leaders use simple quarterly dashboards and shift budget conversations from subjective to evidence based
- Leaders move beyond passive AI, like regulatory summarization, toward deliberate deployment, like predictive audit risk modeling at scale
Your move
Indirect tax is at an inflection point. The professionals who thrive will:
- Make their strategic value visible now by measuring and communicating impact in business terms
- Build hybrid skills today by combining tax expertise with technology fluency
- Secure their seat at the strategic table through proactive engagement, not passive availability
You already have the expertise and already deliver strategic value. The opportunity is open. What will you do with it?
Learn more about the contribution gap facing indirect tax professionals by downloading the 2026 Indirect Tax Report.
