Many companies doing business outside the United States have to comply with an array of value-added tax (VAT) programs. In fact, more than one-third of the finance and tax professionals responding to a recent survey by business information provider Thomson Reuters said they had seen an increase in penalties and fines levied on indirect taxes, including VATs, as well as sales and use taxes.

The upshot? Finding ways to effectively manage indirect taxes is becoming increasingly important, according to a January report from Aberdeen, “Managing Value-Added Tax (VAT) in a Global Environment.” The top reasons given by respondents for improving their company’s ability to comply with VATs was a jump in government audit activities, dynamic government and legislative requirements. Executive pressure to expand operations across geographic boundaries was a driver for 40 percent of companies. more

While 70 percent of senior compliance executives in the U.S. indicated that corruption flourishes in many areas of the world, only 25 percent of these executives say their companies avoid doing business in those countries as a way of limiting bribery and corruption risks, according to a new KPMG survey of 214 U.S. and U.K. compliance executives.

Most of these respondents probably have not conducted business in Angola, Chad, Sudan, Somalia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Afghanistan or Uzbekistan. These countries rate as the “most corrupt” nations on the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, published by Transparency International. more

Quick question for CFOs: Which is the bigger compliance challenge for your tax department — federal or state/local taxes?

If you answered federal, you may be surprised to learn you’re in the minority. more

Technology migration isn’t fun. It occurs when changes require the organization switch to a different technology. This happens when it has outgrown its current systems or needs capabilities they can’t deliver. You do it when you have no choice, but it entails substantial risk.

Last October wiredFINANCE started to address some of the costs of changing technology, here. All the big technology vendors—IBM, HP, Oracle, others—zero in on the migration issue as part of their efforts to get companies like yours to switch to their products.

IBM has gone so far as to bundle its system migration tools and services into a package it calls the Migration Factory. The IBM process recognizes the risks from the start and addresses the five primary concerns executives have when faced with a technology migration. more

Goal to Uncover the Drivers Behind Property Tax Rates

According to the Tax Foundation’s index of Major Components of the State Business Tax Climate for fiscal year 2011, the state of Minnesota ranks 18th in the property tax burden it imposes on its taxpayers. When all taxes are considered, Minnesota came in 43rd out of the 50 states. Of the $554 billion businesses across the U.S. remitted in state and local taxes in 2006, 37 percent, or about $205 billion, was for property taxes, the Tax Foundation reports.

A group called Open Government Minnesota (OGM) is lobbying “to provide access to all data needed to create and support the development of a more open and vigorous public discussion surrounding the restructuring of local government, with the goal of delivering public services more effectively, efficiently, and at a lower cost to property taxpayers.” Behind the initiative are two organizations: NAIOP Minnesota, a commercial real estate development organization, and the Minnesota Taxpayers Association. more