This article is written to help tax executives understand what is happening in the market now. It is also written to help CFOs and VPs HR understand what they can do to support their tax organization. Believe it, your tax organization will need a lot more support than you may have given them in the past.  Tax reform has just delivered a big package of surprises no one is really prepared for yet. The tax organizations staffed to study these changes will do far better strategically and financially so now is the time to start putting together a plan of action.

As an example, allow me to share what one of my early career clients did regarding tax planning. During the last major tax reform under President Reagan, an emerging company in Silicon Valley called me to help them find a tax lawyer who would go through the new 1986 Transfer Pricing Tax Legislation , the White Paper and figure out what was in there. They retained me to find a strong researcher and strategic planner to go through the government’s position on newly issued transfer pricing regulations. They wanted to figure out the new rules and how to come up with a strategic long term tax plan to grow their business.  Want to know who this company is?  This company now has annual revenue of 234Billion and is called Apple Computer!

Allow me to share another interesting true story with you! A company called me in 1997 because they wanted to move some manufacturing operations into China. At the time, this would be the very first US multinational to set on ground in China manufacturing American cars. At the time, most people in the cities were riding bicycles with very Chinese owning automobiles This particular company needed a tax person to deal with the local government tax authorities and they knew with the right planning they could expand their business operations significantly in China. This auto manufacturer now exceeds 147M in annual revenue today through strategic tax planning initiatives and it is called General Motors.

These great companies strategically planned these moves and they invested wisely to find the tax executive talent they needed to succeed. Success did not just happen, they planned for it. These companies invested in a tax planning strategy that talented tax executives brought to the table. Tax executives are not just ordinary people; they often are extraordinary minds that bring outstanding business strategy and significant tax savings for a company.

Over the years, CFOs have called me to ask if I can find a tax executive to figure a way out of the costly mess they created after an acquisition. Yes, there are CFOs who focus on the business goals and throw the tax planning to the wind. It happens more often than you think with the young and inexperienced management teams. A strategic tax mind can save a company millions and even billions of dollars over several years with strategic tax planning. This talent is out there and this is the type of tax executive I have come to know over the years in executive search. The war for this talent is heating up again and companies will be the companies who get the talent on board and there will be companies waiting months to find it.  I will tell you why in Part II of my Corporate Tax Executive Series.

Need to find a tax executive your corporate tax organization?

Contact Kat@taxconnections.com or call 858.999.0053.