Priorities for tomorrow’s unicorns

Indirect tax considerations for the digital economy

For tomorrow’s billion-dollar tech companies, the challenge and complexity of tax should never be underestimated.

Indirect tax represents a growing share of tax obligations faced by tech companies. How should they respond? How can they stay competitive while meeting global tax obligations?

There are five priorities that tech companies should address as a matter of urgency, if they have not done so already:

1. Know where your customers are
   Advance planning will ensure you are registered, compliant and paying in the right places at the right time.
2. Rethink your pricing and supply chain
   Complete a thorough and transparent assessment of your markets, you need to calculate how your existing prices should vary across jurisdictions.
3. Automate to keep ahead of change
   As more countries implement indirect tax, one of the biggest on-going challenges will be keeping up to date with changing global regulation
4. Clarify your channel strategy
   Be clear about the practices of the channels you sell through, as their approaches vary.
5. Keep the data safe
   Ensuring you have sufficient data security is an additional concern that needs to be addressed as a priority.

Talk to your local firm about how Grant Thornton can help you strike the right balance between compliance and profitability.