Quick question: Want to know what legislative changes have been introduced in Russia in response to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours?
Quick answer: Run your mouse over the map of Russia on Thomson Reuters’ new Global Regulatory Tracker COVID-19.
Thomson Reuters has recently launched a unique visual dashboard to show movement in legislation across more than 200 countries. The Tracker covers pandemic-driven changes in more than 300,000 jurisdictions.
Access – at your fingertips – current rates, tariffs, taxes and deadlines covering direct and indirect tax, corporate tax, transfer pricing and global trade.
“The Global Regulatory Tracker gives quick oversight of this information for multinational companies (MNCs) that operate across so many jurisdictions where they might not have visibility,” says Nicholas Wong, Head of Corporate Proposition at Thomson Reuters whose idea it was to marry Thomson Reuters’ powerful, market leading content into a visual tool to help customers.
Avoid paying incorrect rates with easy access to current COVID-19 changes
Put simply, “you don’t know what you don’t know”.
“One of the many benefits of the Tracker is that it acts as a thermometer, allowing you to see if you have coverage over your operations from a tax and compliance perspective, “ he explains, stressing that the value of the Tracker is as a handy tool to access the latest legislative changes due to COVID easily, in one place.
“Ideally, the information shouldn’t come as a surprise as it should all be reflected in your technology. If you’re not across these changes in some jurisdictions, then this raises a question mark for MNCs.
“If you’re lacking oversight of these changes, you could be missing out on taking advantage of a moratorium on or delay of rate payments, which in turn impacts strategic planning and your cashflow.”
This is a particular risk for MNCs who run their operations through manually updated Excel templates.
“If rate changes are not being updated in your software then you’d have to go through all your rates in your Excel templates to ensure they’re reflecting current changes,” explains Wong.
Watch global changes like a hawk
During this current period when time and resources are under pressure, it’s valuable to spend less time on this arduous work at the last minute, that can be done automatically, accurately and reliably to ensure compliance requirements are being met.
“The beauty of the Tracker is that our global technical experts mine the data straight from the source. In the case of global trade information, we go directly to the customs bureaus in each country then analyse and filter the information, shortcutting the process so you don’t have to think about how to acquire the current rate for a particular jurisdiction.
“Automatic daily updates in the Tracker – and more comprehensively in your software – of these COVID-19 changes mean that MNCs don’t have to think about applying the right rate or tariff to the transaction.”
While the Tracker provides you with a taste of the power of insight, Wong explains that “with the right software you can pivot quickly and accelerate plans in forecasting the movements in tariffs or rates that might affect a supply chains or cost of goods or whatever it may be.
“Now more than ever you want to be hawkish about the opportunity and potential changes that are occurring in the economy. Be proactive not reactive.”
