How Technology Treats Tax Administration Pain
While technology can’t eliminate taxes, it can make the process seem a whole lot less painful—for both taxpayer and tax administrator. That’s what we were celebrating on Monday, August 12, 2019, when Exela hosted a lunch at Andiamo on Detroit’s breathtaking riverfront in conjunction with the FTA (Federation of Tax Administrators) Annual Technology Conference and Exhibition.
The FTA has been around since 1937, working to improve the quality of state tax administration. In recent years, technology has played a key role—transforming data, documents and records into mission-critical content, supporting complex information processes at all levels, and streamlining all aspects of customer communication. A leader in this space, with a current count of 39 state agencies and 15 departments of revenue/taxation among our customer roster, Exela was delighted to host agencies from all over the country for a satisfying “chat-and-chew” featuring delicious food, breathtaking views, and insights into some of what’s trending in tax administration transformation, including:
- End-to-end workflow automation (from opening and preparing returns to image capture and storage, to document disposal and destruction).
- Lockbox implementation
- Online Customer Exceptions management
- Data processing and keying support for refunds, filing extensions, and other exceptions items and correspondence
- Mailroom servicing, including certified mail receipt tracking, barcoding technology to facilitate and expedite sorting
To give you a sense of how this all translates into real life, here’s an actual case study of how Exela gave Alabama’s Department of Revenue a brand new, automated tax return processing system that reduced average tax return turnaround from 14+ days to less than 48 hours and added up to more than $2,000,000 in annual savings through W-2 fraud detection and prevention. Waving bye-bye to legacy systems (which enabled backlogs, duplication, error, and fraud) and the high cost of tax-season hiring, the Department also managed to relieve itself of 30,000 square feet of warehouse space.
Of course, that’s just one example of how we’re transforming tax administration, a practice that comprises, at present:
Want more information on how Exela is bringing technology to bear in tax return processing. Read the whitepaper here. For more information on upcoming events Exela is hosting or participating in, check our Events page here.
