The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) justified trust initiative is well underway as it seeks to build and maintain community confidence that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax.

If you are a company director, did you know that you now have a personal responsibility for ensuring that your company’s tax governance and risk framework is working well? The ATO will be reviewing it to assure themselves that your company is paying and reporting the right amount of tax. To be ready and well-prepared, you need to know you are:

• Paying and accounting for the right amount of taxes to the revenue authority
• Applying tax positions that are in line with the tax risk appetite that have been endorsed under your company’s tax risk governance policy
• Some major transactions are tax accounted for correctly both for statutory financial reporting purposes and tax compliance purposes
• Confident that the necessary systems, controls and processes are in place to ensure that your tax advice is booked correctly
• Transparent with a wide stakeholder group – from internal management through to tax transparency reporting
• Having an effective and transparent relationship with tax authorities
• As far as possible, mitigating risks/errors in calculating and reporting your tax obligations to the revenue authority and for financial reporting purposes

Did you know that CCH Integrator can:

• Help your tax risk management simply by using the tools/configuration that is already within CCH Integrator?
• Drive positive behaviours in preparing, calculating and reporting on your taxes?
• Measure, track and report tax positions/profiles to your senior management team?
• Improve tax transparency disclosures?
• Strengthen revenue authority’s trust of your systems and processes?

The corporate tax landscape is evolving rapidly and it’s critical that companies are aware of how changes, particularly in terms of the ATO’s approach, requirements and technology, are likely to affect them.  We partner with our clients to make the most of the advice and resources available to them, including those provided by the ATO. As with any kind of change, it’s to your advantage to be well-prepared rather than surprised.

We are now offering clients and prospective clients a tailored review/workshop on their current use of CCH Integrator and/or other technology tools in light of the justified trust initiative.  To find out how you can arrange a review of your tax control framework contact us.