Big Four accounting and consulting firm KPMG and computer firm HP Inc. have entered a global tax services co-sourcing arrangement spanning 60 countries.
As part of the arrangement, select members of the HP finance team from approximately 20 countries will join tax teams in the global KPMG network of firms.
The KPMG teams will provide tax services which include international and US direct and indirect tax compliance services, global tax reporting, and transfer pricing support.
“HP is the latest in a host of industry-leading companies that KPMG is working with to reimagine their tax departments and harness the power of technology to help reduce costs, improve quality, manage risk, and make better strategic decisions,” said Greg Engel, vice chair of tax at KPMG.
Tax co-sourcing is a trend which has only gained in popularity during the pandemic, as firms seek to further reduce costs and overhead. In a co-sourcing arrangement, a company keeps in-house the areas of its tax function which it deems strategic or central to its mission and objectives, and then outsources resource-intensive tasks, such as tax compliance, to a third-party.
In a previous co-sourcing deal, AIG in 2018 partnered with EY, transferring select employees to the Big Four firm. In the arrangement, AIG global tax compliance and technology teams integrated into EY’s tax technology and tax compliance practices – allowing the remaining AIG internal tax function to focus on more strategic work.
Claire Bramley, chief accounting officer for HP, said, “KPMG has designed a strong managed services solution for tax and finance that allows us to leverage both a global tax compliance platform and their investment in technology to position us for the future.”
HP Inc. is based in Palo Alto and develops PCs, printers, and 3D printing solutions. The company had $59 billion in revenues last year.
KPMG will leverage its Ignition Tax compliance technology platforms, which enable automated compliance processes as well as data and analytics reporting.