‘Our innovative, end-to-end VAT compliance platform gives clients total control of their global VAT returns’ — Catherine Quirke, CEO of Taxback International.
As the world is digitalizing, it has become more difficult, costly and time consuming to stay ahead of shifting compliance processes for any company that wishes to handle VAT compliance internally. An outsourced technology provider, with an experienced team and dedicated resources, can provide streamlined processing, greater data insights, fewer submission errors and potential audits, adaptability to emerging trends and changes, and saving compliance costs.
This is where Taxback International intervenes— the world’s leading company for VAT Technology & Compliance services. Taxback International is transforming how VAT compliance and recovery are managed on a global basis. They operate worldwide and are headquartered in Kilkenny, Ireland.
Introduction
With over 25 years of VAT reclaim and compliance expertise, Taxback International is the leading provider of VAT technology and services, with a client lists that includes almost all of the Fortune 500 companies (Google, Tesla, Facebook, Twitter, IBM). Their technology enables the real-time processing of over 10 billion transactions across 180 countries in multiple languages.
Catherine Quirke, CEO of Taxback International explains that since its inception, Taxback International has been committed to innovation. However, their most significant challenge occurred last year as a result of Covid-19. Like many businesses, their main business model was disrupted due to the downturn of travel and associated expenses. At that time, a smaller yet successful part of their business provided VAT compliance expertise services. They identified the need for a global compliance technology solution backed by VAT expertise.
This led to the development of Comply – the world’s first end-to-end VAT compliance platform for businesses globally. Comply transforms preparation and filing of VAT returns by centralising control on a single platform. Clients gain total visibility over VAT returns and completely avoid penalties for late payments or non-compliant returns.
Reliability on tech
While the organisation works on various technologies, the current focus has been on OCR and Artificial Intelligence. Optical Character Recognition technology (OCR) tries to mine data from the invoices and run this data through a sophisticated rules engine to identify compliant receipts. The application of Taxback International’s OCR technology enables any system to automatically remember and capture all relevant information directly from clients’ invoices. Once the data is cleansed, the cloud-based platform cross-references the invoices’ data and reconciles it against the transaction data in the clients’ Expense Management System.
Taxback International have also invested a lot in Artificial Intelligence. The firm’s end-to-end platform, Comply, has logical, rules-based processes ensuring worldwide compliance for every single transaction. Once uploaded to the Comply platform, each transaction is ran through a validation process of over 300 steps. This in-depth checklist uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to uncover any potential errors or anomalies. They also build robust data models to inspect data uncovering inconsistencies that are then flagged for review, and deliver threading and predictive insights.
What Taxback International offers to its customers
Taxback International offers products to streamline VAT filing for global companies. The firm’s flagship product, the World’s First End-to-End VAT Compliance Platform Comply, is a revolutionary, innovative end-to-end platform transforming VAT compliance workflow management and eliminating non-compliant reporting. They are now giving global clients full visibility and control. Comply prepares, validates, approves, and submits VAT returns to the relevant tax offices. Comply features revolutionary payments technology embedded to enable tax office payments in local currencies and reconciliations – removing the cost and risk of late tax office payments. Their fully regulated Global Settlement Network of local banks accounts for over 160 countries and 130 currencies. Currently, the firm is building an infrastructure that supports this new business model from a resourcing and skills perspective. They have hired development teams to specifically build this platform (Comply), including dedicated product managers, etc., to identify, plan and deliver new features and functionality. They have also hired many VAT compliance-specific experts to enhance the platform’s development further.
What makes Taxback International stand apart
Taxback International stands ahead of its competitors because it offers a fully comprehensive service. “We recognize that there is no one-size-fits all solution for businesses of any size. That’s why our team is constantly working to the needs and specifications of individual clients to offer a truly tailored service.” Catherine Quirke says.
Taxback International have also invested a lot in Artificial Intelligence. The firm’s end-to-end platform, Comply, has logical, rules-based processes ensuring worldwide compliance for every single transaction.
For example, when on-boarding to the Comply platform, they insist on making it as seamless and efficient as possible by guiding their clients every step of the way.
Taxback International are committed to both technological innovation and market agility. Comply is the world’s first end-to-end VAT compliance platform for businesses globally. Comply completely transforms how a business prepares and files its VAT returns by centralising control on a single platform. This allows their clients to gain complete visibility and deeper insight over their VAT returns and completely avoid costly penalties for late payments or non-compliant returns.
Future outlook
Over the coming years, Taxback International will continue to solidify their positioning as a global hub of VAT consultancy, while expanding regions of operation and opening more local offices. “Through continued expansion we also want to offer our clients more comprehensive global services as well as expand our local network knowledge. We want to continue to attract highly qualified talent to our company to open up new avenues for our business.” Catherine Quirke concludes.
With the development of the AI-powered Comply platform, they believe this will be a significantly valuable addition to their suite of services.
With the easing of lockdown restrictions, too, they expect to see an increase in business travel so there will be a renewed focus on T&E VAT Reclaim.
