Tax authorities in the Middle East are undergoing a major modernisation process. While hoping to architect and implement tax solutions swiftly, expectations are incredibly high, with countries asking for customised, nation-specific features that include the integration of emerging technologies. Each country has the same goal; to create a user-centric system that meets multiple tax types and caters to the needs of all taxpayers, tax officers and tax agents, and, ultimately, elevates compliance within their economy.
How the pandemic has impacted digitalisation
The current pandemic has highlighted the need to increase resilience and accelerate the pace of digitalisation. Tax authorities must rethink their digitalisation strategy to maintain productivity and stabilise business processes; business continuity plans should be accompanied by proactive measures to establish sustainability for unexpected future challenges. There is an imminent need for innovation in solutions that provide taxpayers access to digital services, like using chatbots, as well as online and mobile platforms. Digitalisation is now a necessity; by providing taxpayer services through different mediums, tax authorities can continue to enable voluntary compliance. Solutions that support a solid technical infrastructure and paperless processes are key to safeguarding business continuity and maintaining productivity.
Integrating emerging technologies to deliver efficient tax solutions
As technologies evolve, Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) solutions have become available to ease the burden of tax implementation, while enhancing efficiency. These solutions offer configurations that are designed to meet tax-specific laws, regulations and business rules, to provide single taxpayer views and support multiple tax regimes. Thus, ultimately helping administrations in exponentially increasing collections and maximising compliance, all while reducing the total cost in comparison to conventional custom solutions. More recently, emerging technologies have taken the driver’s seat and tax authorities rightfully have high expectations when it comes to new solutions.
Enterprise solution providers, like Invenio, are at the forefront of integrating emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine learning (ML) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and weaving them into SAP solutions. There is no denying that machines are equipped with significantly superior computational abilities than humans, and they can sort through enormous amounts of data in a fraction of the time to enable better decision-making. Since AI can find patterns, trends and associations, it is able to discover inefficiencies, predict future outcomes based on historical trends and make fact-based decisions. Machine learning is also a subset of AI, which enables computer programs to ‘learn’ when exposed to new data, without being specifically programmed, to provide an unbiased analysis of the data. Smart integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in enterprise solutions like SAP helps automate tax functions and improve complicated analytical tasks, look at data in real-time, adjust its behaviour with minimal supervision, and increase efficiency and accuracy exponentially.
Conclusion
We’re at a crucial turning point of automation in this age of exhaustive information and big data, especially when it comes to the world of finance and taxation. VAT and tax regimes are at a nascent stage across the world, and especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Tax authorities in the region continue to learn and evolve with the process, warranting a significant increase in the need for flexible and scalable solutions.