Tax technology

Small Business Tax Compliance is Simplified with New Intuitive Technology

ByJohn Luckenbaugh

It’s been a long 18 months for tax professionals–deemed #marchternity on Twitter. But is there light at the end of the tunnel?

According to the 2021 Accountants Confidence Report, tax and accounting professionals are confident their clients’ finances will improve over the next 12-18 months. However, the same report shows industry professionals are also pessimistic about the overall health of small businesses and the U.S. economy over the same period. 

The puzzle of tax compliance is complicated, especially for small businesses. Amid ever-evolving tax codes and changing technology, how can business owners stay confident and proactive?

On today’s episode of the Taxgirl podcast, Kelly is joined by Sona Akmakjian to chat about the changing tax landscape and how business owners can remain empowered and informed while embracing new technology. Sona is Avalara’s executive leading global account partnerships and programs. As a CPA with 29 years of experience in transactional tax services and automation, Sona is recognized for her deep industry expertise. Her vision is to offer innovative solutions that enable firms to support clients with end-to-end scalable global solutions. She advocates for global, strategic, mutually beneficial relationships with accounting firms worldwide. 

Listen to Kelly and Sona talk about technology and tax compliance:

  • It’s been such a long year for tax and accounting professionals. What are the things that tax and accounting professionals are concerned about going forward in the profession? Sona says her firm interviewed over 500 accountants during the pandemic and found some surprising results.
  • What are the details of the 2018 Wayfair decision, and how does it affect businesses today? 
  • At the same time, tax professionals are trying to sort out changing tax laws, and businesses are scrambling to stay compliant as the laws constantly shift. How can practitioners and business owners stay on top of the curve to remain compliant and proactive?
  • What is the “cost” of compliance? Whether it’s new technology, more complex returns, more overhead, etc., the consequences of getting caught out of compliance are always worse than the cost of staying compliant. But how can businesses plan for that?
  • Sona says, “I don’t see how compliance can be achieved in this world without some form of automation.” Technology now allows businesses and tax professionals incredible tools that are both intuitive and efficient.
  • How to embrace technology and integrate the systems painlessly. There may be a learning curve, but adopting new systems will reduce stress and save time in the long run. Sona says that while change management can be challenging, technology will overall add efficiency and accuracy.
  • During the pandemic, tax and accounting professionals have had to spread their attention and effort across many additional areas, both personally and professionally. How has this extra fatigue trickled down to the industry as a whole?
  • Thinking about the future, what might tax compliance and technology look like in the next few years? Will states become more “aggressive” overall, will there be a greater push for technology, or will industry standards shift? Sona says state governments seem to be becoming more data savvy, perhaps partly because of a big-tech push while employees were working remotely.
  • Does Sona anticipate any concerns about data sharing between states? Speaking candidly, she says she expects we’ll probably get more and more used to sharing data. “Everything is in the cloud,” she reminds listeners. It’s all about an efficient transition.
  • What are Sona’s words of wisdom for professionals who are more reluctant toward technology and data sharing? She says, “Just look at your financial systems. It’s all in the cloud.” As long as the tech companies have the right controls and security systems in place, there’s not much to worry about. 
  • Commerce has already begun to shift from “where are you selling” to “what are you selling,” with more focus on casting a broad global marketing net instead of a brick-and-mortar storefront. What are the compliance implications of a shift like this?

More about Kelly:

Kelly is the creator and host of the Taxgirl podcast series. Kelly is a practicing tax attorney with considerable experience and knowledge. She works with taxpayers like you every day. One of the things she does is help folks out of tax jams and, hopefully, keep others from getting into them.

You can find out more about Kelly here, and you can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

To subscribe to the podcast (it’s free!) using Apple, Spotify, or your favorite listening app, click here.

Links:

Kelly’s Website – Taxgirl
Sona’s LinkedIn – Sona Akmakjian

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