Executive summary
Corporate tax departments face unprecedented challenges from technological disruption, regulatory complexity, and resource constraints. Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Indirect Tax provides a single solution for managing agile, end-to-end indirect tax and e-invoicing workflows — empowering teams to move faster, achieve greater accuracy, and become more adaptable to change.
The evolution of indirect tax
Tax's golden opportunity
In-house corporate tax departments sit at the epicenter of technological, commercial, and regulatory shifts reshaping modern economies. The relentless pace of change has rendered 57% of traditional tax operations reporting chaotic and reactive tech postures, while just 6% believe it to be optimized or predictive. The lack of tech strategy creates unpredictability in outcomes and significant compliance challenges. But on the flip side, it provides unprecedented opportunities for strategic transformation.
Adapting to digital tax
Indirect taxes are especially impacted by technological change. As governments worldwide introduce digitalized tax regimes demanding speed, accuracy, and transparency; automating indirect tax processes has become the only practical way to keep pace. But keeping up isn't enough. There’s too much at stake. To get ahead, tax departments must be forward-thinking.
From reactive to strategic
For years, tax leaders have sought to break the shackles of routine compliance and create a more strategic vision. In this new world, the tax function adds enterprise value through deeper data analysis and business intelligence. Access to enterprise-wide data and advanced tax technologies gives proactive teams powerful tools for forward-looking strategies using sophisticated statistical analysis and scenario modeling.
New skills, new opportunities
Tax professionals must now develop expertise beyond tax — understanding geopolitical concerns, market uncertainty, and regulatory changes. When tax professionals demonstrate strategic value in bottom-line numbers, forward-looking departments establish themselves as business advisors who deserve a seat at the executive table.
The path forward
What prevents many tax departments from achieving higher-level operation is a complex tangle of factors involving people, processes, and systems.
Forward-looking tax departments are in an excellent position to establish themselves as business advisors and enterprise leaders. They must first demonstrate tax’s strategic value using bottom-line numbers that a company’s top brass cannot ignore. By doing so, they will earn the seat at the proverbial table they deserve.
Evolution of indirect tax: From manual to automated strategic value
Stage 1: Manual compliance
- Spreadsheets, manual data entry, and localized filing
- Reactive approach, high error risk
Stage 2: Process standardization
- Documented workflows, regional consistency
- Reduced errors, better audit readiness
Stage 3: Technology enablement
- Tax engines integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP)
- Automated calculations and return prep
Stage 4: Data-driven compliance
- Analytics dashboards, centralized data
- Predictive compliance and risk management
Stage 5: Strategic automation
- End-to-end automation, real-time tax determination
- Tax insights embedded in business strategy
People, processes, and systems balance
The balancing act
Corporate tax departments navigate volatile geopolitical uncertainty and technological disruption — a tectonic shift affecting all three pillars of the "people, process, systems" framework. When all three factors flux simultaneously, finding balance becomes extremely challenging.
Driving forces behind the pressure
Two major components create relentless pressure:
Digital commerce shift. The rapid move toward e-commerce and digital banking creates numerous tax challenges, especially in the collection of value-added taxes (VAT), goods and services taxes (GST), and sales and use taxes, cross-border transactions, and digital services delivery.
Government digitalization. Governments worldwide digitalize tax systems to modernize infrastructure, fight fraud, and create fairer taxation, issuing new mandates, regulations, and data requirements.
Digital tax mandates: Deadlines loom
The European Union (EU) leads digitalized tax systems, with standards adopted worldwide. The EU's VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) directive makes continuous transaction controls (CTCs) such as e-invoicing and digital reporting mandatory for cross-border business-to-business (B2B) and new rules for business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions conducted on digital platforms.
The new B2C VAT rules go into effect July 1, 2028, but companies operating in the EU have until July 1, 2030 to comply with ViDA’s B2B directive and requirements to:
- Upgrade financial and business systems
- Adopt automated e-invoicing solutions
- Integrate tax platforms across the enterprise
- Implement real-time government connectivity
Resource constraints reach breaking point
The Thomson Reuters state of the corporate tax department report indicates that 58% of corporate tax departments are under-resourced. The volume of work often stretches beyond capabilities — not due to staff incapability, but because expanding reporting requirements and changing regulations make legacy methods impossible.
The hidden costs of procrastination
Non-compliance costs extend beyond fines and penalties:
- Constant resource drain from manual processes
- Increased errors and operational disruptions
- Reputational risks and stakeholder trust loss
- Inability to conduct business in mandatory CTC or e-invoicing countries
- Transaction completion barriers with vendors
Embrace "adapt and thrive"
Companies putting off inevitable changes end up in "adapt-or-die" mode. Leaders in "adapt-and-thrive" environments harness change momentum; understanding technological change begets cultural change — both requiring simultaneous management for desired results.
The power of integration
From fragmentation to centralization
Modern tax transformation involves transitioning from siloed, fragmented ecosystems to centralized, integrated systems working harmoniously with the entire enterprise.
The legacy problem
Companies without centralized ERP platforms typically run ad-hoc patchworks of software cobbled together over the years. These partially connected networks lack data visibility and control, becoming increasingly complex, inefficient, and error-prone while preventing advanced data analysis for strategic insights.
The digital hub advantage
A centralized, integrated, end-to-end indirect tax system creates a central hub organizing all important elements — determination, e-invoicing, compliance, reconciliation, audit control — through which clean data flows. This hub operates as a central source of truth, minimizing error opportunities.
End-to-end efficiency with ONESOURCE
Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE works better because all pieces are designed as a cohesive whole. This holistic approach delivers multiple benefits:
Connectivity and communication. Seamless ERP integration with tax, e-commerce, and finance systems enable smoother communication.
Critical accuracy. Automated tax technologies are faster and more accurate throughout the process, with cleaner, more reliable data flowing through systems and government connections.
Powerful automation. Automated regulatory updates relieve staff of time-consuming compliance duties while ensuring up-to-date calculations and reporting.
Global scalability. Organizations with high transaction volumes don't worry about system performance. ONESOURCE scales infinitely, accommodating any transaction volume, including holiday surges and unexpected activity changes.
Strategic foresight. Less time on routine compliance means more time for proactive, strategic pursuits, improving team dynamics, job satisfaction, and reducing turnover.
ONESOURCE is specifically designed to solve global tax environment problems prioritizing speed, accuracy, and interconnectivity — taking grunt work and anxiety out of reconciliation and filing processes.
Technology integration roadmap
The integrated technology ecosystem
Understanding how Thomson Reuters indirect tax solutions work together is crucial for maximizing the value of your technology investment. Rather than implementing disparate systems that require manual data transfer and reconciliation, the ONESOURCE ecosystem creates a seamless, integrated workflow that spans the entire indirect tax process.
The pillared integration model
Pillar 1: Intelligent determination
The first and only patented tax intelligent determination engine, ONESOURCE Determination, helps you calculate, record, and remit your tax obligations anywhere you do business. This includes complex markets such as Brazil, India, and the U.S. Calculate correct tax amounts in milliseconds and easily handle millions of transactions daily in over 68,000 jurisdictions in 205 countries and territories.
Integration benefits:
- Single global tax solution built on cloud platform
- Seamless integration with existing business systems
- Fast and flexible deployment, including edge computing
AI-driven product classification
If you’re launching new products, updating catalogues, or newly implementing the solution, ONESOURCE Determination uses generative AI and trusted Thomson Reuters content to automate product classification.
Pillar 2: Global e-invoicing
ONESOURCE Pagero revolutionizes the e-invoicing compliance process by connecting buyers and suppliers around the world in a centralized, secure, compliant, and automated solution. This smart network allows all entities to exchange e-invoices and other business documents in real-time, streamlining order to cash and purchase to pay processes. Businesses unlock accurate, real-time data from the transactions, for greater strategic clarity.
Integration benefits:
- Universal connectivity with a global API
- Auto-populated tax calculations
- Pre-transmission compliance validation
- Direct data feed to reconciliation
- Real-time status tracking across jurisdictions
- Pagero has a 99.7% successful transmission rate across all connected networks
Pillar 3: Reconcile e-invoices to VAT returns
ONESOURCE Reconciliations connects and automates e-invoicing to VAT return and ERP data reconciliations so you can identify, classify, and resolve mismatches faster, cut risk and accelerate month-end close.
Major benefits:
- Improve accuracy, increase response times, and reduce penalties
- Automate data collection and line level matching
- Improve audit readiness with consistent and clear reports
Be ready for ViDA by automating e-invoicing to VAT return reconciliations
Pillar 4: Comprehensive compliance
ONESOURCE Indirect Compliance consolidates transaction data from determination and Pagero e-invoicing records, to generate accurate tax returns across more than 60 countries. Automated reconciliation increases efficiency up to 75%, reduces discrepancy resolution time by 70%, and reduces pre-filing errors by 95%. Overall reducing costs up to 50%.
End-to-end data flow:
- Determination data provides tax calculation foundation
- E-invoicing records ensure transaction completeness
- Automated reconciliation identifies and resolves discrepancies
- ONESOURCE Indirect Compliance increases efficiency up to 75%, reduces discrepancy resolution time by 70%, and reduces pre-filing errors by 95%. Overall reducing costs up to 50%.
Measuring success: Key performance indicators
Customer-reported results from ONESOURCE Indirect Compliance
Users of ONESOURCE Indirect Compliance have reported:
- Increased efficiency up to 75%
- Cost reductions up to 50%
- Significantly lowering their compliance risk
Accuracy and error reduction metrics
Automate indirect tax calculation and minimize errors to below 1%
Reduces errors on invoices to below 1% and minimizes the chance of audits and large fines
Forrester Total Economic Impact Study results
Efficiency gains:
- Up to 50% efficiency gain for tax filing preparation activities for simple business units
- 25% efficiency gain for more complex operations
- Up to 75% reduction in audit risk, reported by automotive organization
Process improvements:
- Centralized tax filing process became automated, increasing accuracy and efficiency
- Reduced time, effort, and expenses required to complete audits
- Improved speed and effectiveness in communicating with auditing authorities
Industry success measures for indirect tax professionals
The key measures of success for indirect tax professionals in survey reports from 2024 and 2025 are:
- Accuracy of filings — 89%
- Filing returns on time — 83%
- Minimizing cost or resources required for compliance — 65%
- Minimizing or avoiding penalties for late or inaccurate filing — 63%
- Automating indirect tax processes — 56%
- Reducing time spent on compliance or maximizing output per employee — 51%
Future-proofing your investment
The integrated ONESOURCE ecosystem is designed for continuous evolution. As new AI capabilities emerge, additional jurisdictions implement digital tax requirements, and business needs evolve, the platform adapts without requiring wholesale system replacement. This future-proof architecture ensures your technology investment continues delivering value as the indirect tax landscape transforms.
Embracing the future of tax
The future belongs to tax departments that embrace transformation today. While technology serves as the catalyst, the real power lies in visionary leadership that recognizes this pivotal moment as an unprecedented opportunity to redefine the role of tax within the enterprise.
Forward-thinking tax leaders are already positioning their departments as strategic business advisors, leveraging integrated technology ecosystems to deliver insights that drive competitive advantage. They understand that in tomorrow's digital economy, tax departments won't just ensure compliance — they'll become intelligence centers that inform critical business decisions, identify market opportunities, and create sustainable value.
The convergence of AI-powered research, intelligent determination, global e-invoicing, comprehensive compliance, and automated certificate management represents more than technological evolution — it's the foundation for tax departments to become indispensable strategic assets. Organizations that harness this integrated approach will operate with unprecedented speed, accuracy, and agility, turning regulatory complexity into competitive differentiation.
The strategic path forward
Tax departments that transform now will lead their organizations through tomorrow's uncertainties with confidence and capability. Those that delay will find themselves struggling to catch up in an increasingly complex global landscape where agility and intelligence determine market success.
Your transformation starts with a single decision
Don't let tomorrow's challenges become today's missed opportunities. Discover how CoCounsel Tax's AI-powered research, ONESOURCE's intelligent determination and compliance capabilities, ONESOURCE Pagero's global e-invoicing network, and CERTifyTax’s automated certificate management can transform your tax department from a compliance center into a strategic powerhouse.
Learn more about Thomson Reuters integrated indirect tax solutions and start your transformation today.
