Clarity at Speed: Indirect Tax for Multi-Market Manufacturers

Manufacturers don’t have time for tax surprises. Global supply chains, fluctuating input costs, and shifting regulations already stretch finance and IT teams thin. Add fast evolving e-invoicing and real-time reporting mandates to the mix, and indirect tax can quickly become a bottleneck. Or worse, a risk to revenue and reputation.  

But it doesn’t have to be. With the right tax technology embedded in core systems, tax shifts from a reactive obligation to a proactive lever for operational excellence. That’s exactly what we’ve seen in practice with Vertex and SAP in the manufacturing sector.  

A real-world example: manufacturers modernising VAT with SAP S/4HANA  

Forward thinking manufacturers recognise that tax goes beyond compliance and serves as a strategic enabler.  

Vertex customer, the leading innovative medicines company Novartis showed what’s possible by integrating our solution with SAP S/4HANA to standardise global indirect tax processes, cut errors, and improve data visibility across jurisdictions. In this video, their team explains that indirect tax touches almost every process, which is why they prioritised it early in their Lean Digital Core (LDC) S/4HANA programme and moved tax complexity outside the ERP to align with that strategy.  

The result: greater compliance confidence and smoother collaboration with upstream functions, supported by centralised indirect tax management and intelligent automation. The deployment leverages Vertex O Series for SAP S/4HANA alongside Vertex Indirect Tax Chain Flow Accelerator and Vertex Accelerator+ for SAP ERP to streamline complex, cross border tax scenarios.    

While Novartis operates in life sciences, the lessons translate directly to the manufacturing industry, where multi-entity, multi-country operations and intricate bill-of-materials flows are the norm. When organisations bring tax logic into the heart of their IT ecosystem, every quote, order, shipment and invoice reflects the correct rules, consistently and at scale.  

Why VAT calculation and compliance technology matters for manufacturing leaders  

1) Future readiness 

Manufacturers are modernising their SAP estates and moving to S/4HANA. Deploying a tax engine engineered for SAP with certified integrations and accelerators provides an upgrade safe path forward and avoids custom code that’s brittle and hard to maintain.  

2) Standardisation at scale  

Fragmented rules and workarounds slow teams down. Standardising indirect tax determination inside SAP brings one consistent way of working across plants, entities, and markets. That’s how you reduce rework, limit manual adjustments, and support a faster month end close.  

3) Operational resilience  

Real time tax intelligence, fuelled by continuously refreshed content, empowers manufacturers to anticipate regulatory shifts like e-invoicing and real time reporting, while eliminating last-minute scrambles and operational risk. When tax determination is automated, teams can focus on exceptions and value add analysis rather than manual lookups.  

4) Better decisions, earlier in the process  

When tax integrates tightly with order management, procurement, and logistics, upstream functions plan with accuracy. Accurate tax at source reduces invoice disputes, accelerates cash flow, and minimises audit exposure later.  

How Vertex and SAP work together  

Vertex integrates directly with SAP S/4HANA to calculate and apply the right indirect tax rules in real time, across sales and purchasing flows. With Vertex O Series for SAP S/4HANA, manufacturers get reliable, scalable tax determination that keeps pace as volumes and product lines grow.  

Learn more about our 25+ year partnership with SAP.  

Tools like Vertex Chain Flow Accelerator help teams visualise and manage multi-leg, cross-border transactions, common in contract manufacturing and intercompany scenarios. This means, determination is consistent from quote to cash and procure to pay.    

Vertex Accelerator+ for SAP ERP speeds configuration and standardises best practice tax setups for SAP environments, helping teams reduce effort and risk during implementation while establishing a clean, scalable foundation for compliance.    

Manufacturing leaders who embed tax at the heart of their ERP create a foundation for control and confidence. With Vertex and SAP, indirect tax becomes predictable, auditable, and aligned with how your business operates, delivering fewer surprises, faster cycles, and a stronger platform for growth