Thomson Reuters announced a new cloud-based tax platform that melds edge computing with the capabilities of a traditional tax engine to help simplify processes for tax and accounting professionals. 

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Thomson Reuters executives toldZDNetthat the patent-pending Indirect Tax Determination Anywhere platform was launched to help companies conduct "fast, accurate, and secure tax calculations in the cloud."

Sunil Pandita, president of corporates at Thomson Reuters, said corporate tax departments and specialists are constantly up against ever-changing tax regulations and complicated jurisdictional requirements that manual calculations and legacy systems struggle to keep up with. 

"Cloud-based solutions are invaluable in incorporating regulatory changes as they happen, allowing for consistent monitoring, fast calculations, simple reporting, and reliable security," Pandita said. "But, many businesses are comfortable with the security and control of their on-premise solutions. The Determination Anywhere platform enables businesses to get the best of both worlds, addressing critical needs of our customers at a time when businesses need it most."

Pandita and other Thomson Reuters executives like Satnam Singh, Anu Dodda and Ray Grove explained that the platform "sits on top of existing infrastructure," including private and public cloud or on-premise solutions. 

They said the platform speeds up the calculation process while keeping business departments in control of data, which Pandita said was important for online retailers. 

The company claimed the platform was able to remove "network latency to deliver 50% better calculation speed over cloud solutions."

Grove said it "combines on-premise tax engines and enterprise cloud functionality with managed tax calculations, within one single repository throughout the omnichannel in real-time, all in one place." He added that this includes online, offline, across multiple store locations, social, affiliate marketing/referral sales, and more. 

"Utilizing the Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE corporate tax software user interface enables increased tax calculation speed, all while maintaining required compliance and security standards," Grove said.  

"Determination Anywhere's proprietary cloud-based technology ensures that tax rates and jurisdictional regulations are current and accurate, enabling reliable tax compliance, a frictionless customer experience and increased revenues for businesses."

Singh added that the platform helps tax professionals eliminate manual updates and modifications to tax rates, implement new tax regulations without bringing business processes to a halt, monitor transaction performance and logs using corporate standard systems, as well as deploy rates and corresponding calculations.

The platform also helps companies "reduce the technical footprint of traditional on-premise infrastructure, deliver twice the performance at a fraction of the cost and minimize risk and exposure to fines for tax teams and business functions overall," he said. 

Dodda noted that the company's customers could use the platform to deploy in the cloud "while maintaining the level of tax calculation performance, control, and security they've come to expect." 

"The solution ensures speed of tax calculation performance, while also allowing users to maintain the control and security of their native, on-premise indirect tax solutions," Dodda said. 

Thomson Reuters released the platform alongside a report and survey that found tax professionals face a bevvy of compliance issues. 

"The burden of keeping up with tax complexities has never been as acute as it is today, as is the cost for errors born from constantly evolving regulations. As national and local governments are looking to increase revenues to counteract staggering losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, tax teams are saddled with the burden of collections while also battling ambiguous guidance, outdated legacy systems and poor data," Pandita said. 

"The good news is that tax teams are also adding greater value than ever before: maximizing revenue, predicting cash flow models, and providing visibility across the organization. More than ever, tax professionals need smart strategies and tools to mitigate risk and add deep strategic value."

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