Special Report: A Finance Leader’s Guide to Streamlining Indirect Tax Returns

Why finance leaders are rethinking indirect tax compliance

Tax regulations keep changing. Resources keep shrinking. And sales and use tax compliance keeps demanding more from your team. Finance leaders are feeling the squeeze, and many are turning to outsourcing to find a way through.

This report summarizes a Vertex-sponsored CFO webcast featuring Vertex tax experts Michael Bernard, Larry Mellon, and Dana Malburg. It covers the core case for outsourcing indirect tax returns and shares real examples of companies that made the switch.

Five reasons to outsource tax returns

The webcast outlined five clear benefits of working with a third-party provider for indirect tax compliance.

Outsourcing raises staff ROI. Moving repetitive filing tasks to a service provider frees your team for higher-value work and improves morale. It also reduces audit risk. When compliance is handled accurately and on time, your team spends less time caught in review cycles. You lower cost too, by eliminating hardware, software, and training expenses. The service provider handles updates, maintenance, and audit documentation.

Improved governance and controls come from aggregating data through a structured framework, which reduces manual touchpoints and helps catch anomalies early. And outsourcing improves scalability: as your business grows or reorganizes, a returns provider can adapt without putting the burden back on your internal team.

Of the finance professionals who attended the webcast, 49% said improving process efficiency was their top reason to outsource sales tax return filing.

What companies have actually experienced

The report includes four customer examples (all manufacturers) that turned to outsourcing after reorganizations pushed their compliance workloads beyond what their teams could handle.

One company saw annual return volume jump from 1,200 to over 5,000 returns after a reorganization. The team was spending two weeks every month on compliance alone. After outsourcing, that dropped to two days. Monthly notices fell from 50–70 to fewer than 10, and the team shifted focus to tax planning and audit management.

A second company gained 24/7 access to a secure online portal with visibility into filings, payments, notices, and communications with taxing jurisdictions. This was a major win for a small team stretched thin.

A third company used monthly reconciliation and trend analysis reports to manage cash flow forecasting and closing entries more effectively. A fourth company moved to Vertex after a previous provider's service declined. Frequent account turnover had caused problems. The result was a more reliable relationship, with monthly check-ins that went from lengthy issue reviews to five-minute calls.

The case for making a change

If your team spends more time managing filings than adding value, outsourcing indirect tax returns is worth a closer look. Clean data, a reliable provider, and the right tools can make compliance less of a burden and give your team room to do more meaningful work.

Don't forget to check out the corresponding webcast, available here.