Financial crises, corporate collapses, shareholder disputes and creative accounting practices have taken their toll on trust in our institutions. 

Customers, communities and regulators are expecting more, and the bar continues to lift on what a good corporate citizen looks like. 

Inland Revenue has been assessing tax governance arrangements since early 2021 and have identified a significant number of improvements businesses need to implement. Going forward, IR will be holding all entities to account.  

Know your risks 

Today, failing to establish proper tax governance can lead to overlooked tax responsibilities and poorly managed procedures resulting in: 

  • increased scrutiny from IR 
  • a higher risk of IR penalties  
  • missed opportunities to maximise shareholder value and effectively manage tax costs 
  • inadequate knowledge of tax law updates resulting in lack of management and board awareness of key risk areas 
  • risks associated with key personnel 

 

How we can help

Each business will be at their own stage of the tax governance process, so it’s important your documentation and processes are designed to fit the unique needs of your organisation. Here’s how we work alongside our clients to deliver meaningful value, so you can proactively mitigate your tax risks: 

We’ll work with you to determine where your business currently sits in the tax governance lifecycle by: 

  • undertaking a review of your existing tax systems and processes 
  • leveraging existing knowledge of your business 
  • identifying areas for improvement and alignment with best practice. 

We can help you get your documentation up to speed by: 

  • outlining the background, risk profile and responsibility for tax  
  • detailing your tax framework to identify, assess and understand tax risks 
  • defining significant tax risks 
  • During the implementation phase, we’ll help you detail clear processes to imbed your tax governance framework into the business. 

A key aspect of tax governance is continuously reviewing its implementation, and includes:

  • a quarterly or annual review and meeting to your ensure tax governance framework remains fit for purpose from a business and best practise perspective
  • health checks of all tax types
  • identifying opportunities to maximise shareholder value.