Web-Based System Streamlines International Compliance

U.S. corporations with foreign operations face the possibility of filing hundreds of forms with their annual tax returns. For example, corporations need to report the ownership or acquisition of foreign entities or accounts, transfers of cash or property outside the U.S., or activities in certain boycotted countries.

To assist these multinational U.S.-based organizations, Crowe Horwath LLP has introduced the Crowe International Tax Manager, an automated information gathering tool that helps streamline tax-reporting processes. Crowe, one of the largest public accounting and consulting firms in the U.S., developed the Web-based solution to help clients of all industries attain international tax compliance, reduce tax processing costs and adapt to emerging areas of risk.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires that U.S.-based multinational organizations annually file a number of forms specific to their international activities, such as Form 5471, “Foreign Corporations,” Form 8858, “Foreign Disregarded Entities,” Form 926, “Transfer of Property to a Foreign Corporation” and Form 8865, “Foreign Partnerships,” among others. Crowe tax specialists collect demographic information from the organization to determine which filing requirements apply.

Once filing requirements are determined, the Crowe International Tax Manager can be populated with data from existing systems and spreadsheets. From there, designated users in any location can log into the platform and import or input additional data needed to complete required forms.

According to John Kelleher, an International Tax Partner at Crowe, the solution’s project management ability is unique. The project leader can assign tasks, track progress and review the overall filing status all from the solution’s dashboard. “Multiple users can work within the solution at the same time, benefitting from a divide-and-conquer strategy,” he said. “While an individual only sees the portion he or she is responsible for, the leader is able to view the entire project and maintain control.”

Other features of the Crowe International Tax Manager include:

Automated requests that eliminate time-consuming questionnaire distribution and tracking to complete applicable forms for any number of foreign entities; Delegation features that allow users to easily assign tasks, track progress and review status; Centralized data collection that eliminates inefficiencies with information including duplicated efforts as well as working within cumbersome spreadsheets; Dynamic review that flags inconsistencies among the imported or entered data; Information requests that follow an easy-to-understand workflow to translate IRS requirements into a uniform format for filing; Real-time data transfer that populates applicable tax forms with data for review in a universally accessible Adobe Acrobat format; and A secure environment that protects sensitive information through application-layer security based on unique permissions assigned to users.

Taxes