In July 2018, KPMG’s Global Tax Dispute Resolution & Controversy (GTDR&C) network undertook an internal survey of the Use of technology by revenue authorities, an issue of increasing importance in this age of tax digitalization. Our interest was fueled by the noticeable increase in the revenue authorities’ use of technology tools as they conduct tax examinations and investigations. This use of technology is indeed a global phenomenon, and increasingly, particularly with the OECD’s focus on digitalization, we see more and more countries coming on-line and adopting new technology.

This new technology may be used to gather and/or access new information, as well as to analyze data already existing in the revenue authorities’ possession. This use of technology to access information more efficiently and sometimes in real time, may pose unique challenges for the multinational who must often face multiple requests from tax authorities in multiple jurisdictions. Seeking to better understand the trends, we surveyed representatives from KPMG’s GTDR&C network of professionals and requested their insights into how revenue authorities are using technology in a variety of jurisdictions, and how multinationals are responding.

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