How to turn tax data into strategic insights

Today’s tax professionals are navigating a perfect storm of challenges. Expanding data volumes, ever-evolving compliance demands, and the growing expectation to deliver real-time strategic insights are pushing teams to their limit. Success requires moving past workflow maintenance and driving real transformation.

In our recent webinar, “Transforming tax data into strategic insights,” leading industry experts discuss how the partnership between Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE and Alteryx is revolutionizing tax operations. Discover how these cutting-edge tools are helping modern tax teams automate workflows, ensure accuracy, and unlock the full potential of their data.

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The three pillars of tax automation success

Aaron Fell, Senior Manager of Global Indirect Tax and Data Transformation at Grant Thornton, opened the discussion by identifying three critical areas where automation delivers transformative results:

1. Data distribution and collection

Traditional tax processes often involve sending countless emails requesting data from various departments, then manually aggregating responses. Fell demonstrated how Alteryx can automate this entire workflow by:

Automatically sending standardized data requests to predefined distribution lists
Monitoring responses in real-time using Alteryx’s Outlook connector
Aggregating data intelligently to generate centralized tracking dashboards
Triggering smart alerts that warn stakeholders about approaching deadlines

Instead of crafting individual emails and waiting for responses, the system can blast out data requests, monitor responses, and automatically download and process the information, Fell explained.

2. Inquiry management

Organizations face exponentially more complex challenges when managing notices, tracking deliverable statuses, and maintaining workflow visibility as they grow. The automation solution delivers:

OCR technology within Alteryx Intelligence Suite to digitize notice content
Centralized notice repositories that provide hyperlinked access to all documents
Automated status tracking systems that trigger deadline alerts proactively
Historical resolution databases accelerate issue resolution through searchable precedents

3. Data connection, transformation, and reporting

This area showcases Alteryx’s core strength and delivers immediate return of interest (ROI) for most organizations. This is especially true within indirect tax operations where transaction-level data generates massive volumes that demand sophisticated processing.

Real-world results: How tax automation helps online retailers

Fell shared a compelling case study of an e-commerce retailer struggling with monthly sales and use tax compliance. Despite outsourcing return preparation, the company still struggled with aggregating and preparing the data needed for compliance.

The retailer filed approximately 800 tax returns per month and recently implemented Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Indirect Tax Determination, which improved tax calculation accuracy. However, several challenges persisted due to disconnected data sources and billing platforms not yet integrated with ONESOURCE.

Key challenges included:

High data volume: Over 80 separate data files were processed monthly.
Complex product-level exemptions: Clothing taxability varied by state and product type within each state.
Address cleansing: Inaccurate or inconsistent shipping address data impacted tax situs and calculation accuracy.
Multiple billing platforms: Not all were connected to ONESOURCE, requiring manual data handling and transformation.

The solution: Fell’s team designed a two-stage automation process with Alteryx:

Front-end automation:

Combined and standardized over 80 monthly data files using Alteryx workflows
Applied data cleansing rules, including fuzzy matching for product categories and address validation
Recalculated tax on every transaction to identify under- and over-collections, enabling timely adjustments in ONESOURCE

Back-end reporting:

Generated diagnostic reports and dashboards in Power BI to highlight tax variances and trends
Enabled a “manage by exception” review process, reducing manual effort
Stored cleansed, consolidated data in a central data hub for audit-ready access

Results:

Audit assessments dropped by 90% after implementation.
Review and compliance cycles were significantly shortened
The company gained confidence in its tax data
Improved accuracy across jurisdictions

Why APIs outperform traditional spreadsheets

Jordan Rash, Tax Manager at Grant Thornton, showcased the shift from Excel-based processes to API-driven automation and outlined the critical shortcomings of traditional spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets offer flexibility, but they introduce significant risks, such as frequent errors, persistent manual adjustments, and inconsistent standards. Thus, making them unsustainable for complex tax operations. In contrast, ONESOURCE APIs automate real-time data flows between systems, eliminating manual exports and ensuring management reports reflect the latest information.

Rash demonstrated this transformation with a state Net Operating Loss (NOL) reporting solution that replaced manual pivot tables with an automated dashboard featuring:

Dynamic filtering by company, state, and NOL type
Heat maps highlighting geographic loss concentrations
Automated expiration tracking and system updates
Seamless, bi-directional data flow between analysis and provision systems

The benefits of a connected tax ecosystem

David Magarian, Senior Solutions Consultant at Thomson Reuters, concluded by positioning these capabilities within the broader digital transformation strategy at Thomson Reuters. Recent CEO research identifies digital transformation as the top priority, with a focus on:

Automated workflows ensuring accuracy and compliance
Cost reduction through process efficiency
Embedded solutions integrating expertise into daily systems
Connected platforms breaking down data silos
Intelligent capabilities leveraging AI and machine learning

Magarian noted that Thomson Reuters processes 1.5 billion API calls, each one enabling tax professionals to automate data movement between systems. This ecosystem approach connects direct tax, indirect tax, supply chain, risk, and legal processes within an open, integrated platform.

To fully harness the benefits of this connected environment, the webinar outlined six strategic considerations for successful automation implementation:

Successful automation requires strategic planning.
Start with high-volume, rules-based processes where ROI is most apparent.
Leverage existing ONESOURCE investments through API connectivity.
Build workflows with containers and documentation for easy knowledge transfer.
Create diagnostic dashboards for exception-based management.
Establish audit trails through automated data warehousing.

Elevate tax data insights with ONESOURCE and Alteryx 

The combination of ONESOURCE deep tax expertise and Alteryx’s powerful data capabilities is more than just a tech upgrade. It’s a game-changer for the tax function. This isn’t about simply automating routine tasks. It’s about reimagining what tax functions can accomplish when freed from manual data manipulation.

By eliminating manual data manipulation, tax professionals can shift their focus to strategic, high-impact work. With these advanced tools, teams are empowered to drive smarter decisions, uncover new tax data insights, and deliver greater value across the organization.

To explore how ONESOURCE and Alteryx can elevate your tax operations, download the full webinar on-demand to learn more.