Knowledge Capital for the Tax Professional

Welcome to this edition of TaxCareerDigest. This online journal provides corporate tax professionals with timely information relating to the tax industry—news, trends, careers, and more. Through TaxCareerDigest, you will receive relevant content that is written and reviewed by experts in the tax field.

If you are interested in submitting content to TaxCareerDigest, please email meredith@taxtalent.com for a copy of our publication guidelines and article submission process.

At the latest TEI meeting held in Orlando Florida, Adam Golden of TaxSearch Inc. presented the four major takeaways from TaxTalent's 2013 Tax Hiring Outlook. This report provides insight into the tax hiring process from the viewpoint of corporate tax hiring authorities after year-end budgeting, and provides conclusive information to support decision making.

During the first quarter of 2013, TaxTalent conducted a survey of public accounting staff, focusing on those at the manager level and below. Survey respondents were asked two key questions in reference to their career goals and the support of their department in meeting those goals.

Bloomberg BNA’s 13th annual survey found that nexus, the minimum amount of contact between a taxpayer and a state that would allow a state to impose tax, remains widely variable between states both for income tax nexus and sales tax nexus. Since state tax nexus can change from year to year as a result of administrative change, legislation or litigation, it can come as a surprise to even seasoned tax practitioners. Therefore it’s instructive to take a look at some of the areas in which the scope of nexus is increasing.

Governments around the world are increasingly taking steps to improve their accounting and achieve greater transparency – amidst growing recognition that the accounting framework traditionally used by the public sector isn't fit for the 21st century. A PwC survey covering 100 countries reveals that while only 24% of governments currently use 'accrual accounting', 37% plan to move to this form of accounting in the next five years, bringing the total adoption rate to 63% of governments surveyed and representing an increase of 142%.

As the world’s governments seek new ways to generate revenues, VAT/GST rates will increase, more jurisdictions will adopt them and the scope of many already in place will broaden. The 2013 Benchmark Survey on VAT/GST reveals valuable insights into emerging best practices, benchmarks and global and regional trends.

A major rebound in confidence in the global economy among large corporates is not yet translating into expected capital investment and M&A activity, according to Ernst & Young’s eighth bi-annual Capital confidence barometer, based on a survey this month of 1,600 senior executives in 50 countries.