Introduction of continuous transaction controls for VAT data

Tax is a distraction – and sometimes a source of frustration – for businesses. In the area of indirect – or consumption – tax such as VAT government requirements are at best financially neutral but they always create administrative burdens.

Many large companies have in-house or outsourced teams of VAT compliance specialists that are trained to make sure that compliance is always upheld despite affected jurisdictions frequently changing rules in big and small ways. However where such teams exist they are often more used to the slow pace and manual processing of traditional periodic reports than to the demands of ‘always-on’ digitised VAT enforcement. In order to navigate the introduction of continuous transaction controls (CTCs) firms must ensure their data is detailed and presentable in real-time or almost real-time.

Nonetheless as much as CTCs represent a revolution in the way data is...