Operational Taxes for Investment Firms 2024 Conference Takeaways

Operational Taxes for Investment Firms London Conference

On Wednesday, October 23rd, TAINA representatives and industry leaders gathered at the London Operational Taxes for Investment Firms conference to discuss the latest regulatory developments in the operational tax space and key challenges for funds and custodians. The event featured insightful panels on the “Impending shift towards online solutions” and the “Introduction of CRS 2”, highlighting the critical intersection of technology and emerging tax regulations.

Experts in both panels focused on how automation and data quality can streamline compliance and meet new standards. They also emphasized that technology is essential not only to manage regulatory changes but to transform tax compliance into a strategic advantage.

Conference Key Takeaways

• Embracing Technology for Streamlined Compliance
• CRS 2 Changes and Increased Data Requirements
• Data Quality: The Compliance Cornerstone
• The Strategic Advantage of Automation

Embracing Technology for Streamlined Tax Compliance

In the panel Technology and Tax: The Impending Shift Towards Online Solutions, Mark Huyan (State Street), Maarten Van Der Hoeven (abrdn), Emma Young (Ashmore Group), and Rich Kent (TAINA Technology) explored how embracing technology could help streamline tax compliance. Key insights included:

• Automation reduces manual errors, increases efficiency, and supports tax compliance teams in focusing on more important higher value tasks.
• Automated data validation, onboarding, and real-time data quality checks were highlighted as vital to ensure that data is accurate and up to date.
• By automating repetitive tasks, firms can adapt more easily to evolving regulations, enhancing both compliance and operational efficiency.

CRS 2 Changes and Increased Data Requirements

In the Introduction of CRS 2 panel, led by David Smith (HMRC) and Paul Worlock (NatWest), outlined the expanded Common Reporting Standard data requirements set to take effect in January 2026.

• CRS 2 demands more precise data, including;
  • Distinctions between new and pre-existing accounts,
  • Reporting on whether a valid client self-certification has been collected,
  • Reporting on if the account is a joint account and the number of account holders,
  • Categorizing account types.
• These new standards emphasize the need for detailed, accurate data collection and management, which technology can help ensure through consistent and automated validation.

Data Quality: The Compliance Cornerstone

Both panels emphasized data quality as foundational to tax compliance success for the following reasons:

• High-quality data minimizes errors and supports reliable reporting, especially under complex new standards like CRS 2.
• By leveraging technology to continuously validate and monitor data, firms can proactively address quality issues, enhancing compliance outcomes and reducing regulatory risk.

The Strategic Advantage of Automation

Both panels emphasized how the adoption of technology and automation is no longer optional but essential for the following reasons:

• Automation enables firms to manage complex reporting efficiently, scale processes, and reduce costs, providing a competitive edge in a demanding regulatory landscape.
• The adoption of technology allows firms to respond quickly to regulatory shifts and evolving regulations like CRS 2, ensuring both immediate compliance and long-term resilience.
• By automating compliance data management, firms can shift resources toward strategic activities, making compliance not just an operational task but a driver of business value.

How Can TAINA Help?

The future of compliance is digital, and by embracing technology, firms can navigate regulatory challenges with agility, secure data quality, and turn compliance into a powerful asset in an increasingly complex tax environment.

Now more than ever it is important to think of an automated solution in the tax operations space and focus on automating repetitive processes. There are limits to how much we can stretch internal resources.

The TAINA Platform takes care of your CRS Self Certification Form collection and validation, as well as maintaining FATCA and CRS reporting compliance in a seamless end-to-end process. Attending these types of events ensures TAINA is maintaining an up to date, robust and detailed ruleset meeting our clients' needs.

We would love to talk to you more about your current documentation validation process and how our award-winning FATCA and CRS Validation platform may add value to your organization.

For more information on how our fully automated platform can add value to your business, get in touch or request a demo to see it in action.