Article

Achieve faster fund tax compliance filing and reporting

Leverage third-party solutions to connect fund administration with tax services

July 18, 2023

Key takeaways

It’s time to reimagine how third-party fund administration and tax services can work together.

RSM has developed a technology solution that fully integrates book-side information with tax-side data.

Access enhanced insights and deliver tax compliance and reporting faster than ever.

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Real estate funds
Financial management PartnerSight Private equity Real estate

If you could change how your third-party fund administrator and tax services provider work together, chances are your wish list would include enhancing efficiency, transparency, and responsiveness.

Good news: A next-generation solution now exists to automate and integrate back-office functions, leading to a more nimble and efficient operation. Read on to learn more about these exciting developments and how RSM US LLP can help turn your wish list into reality.

1. Meet tax deadlines and requirements more reliably

As a fund chief financial officer (CFO), you know the headaches that come with myriad tax compliance requirements. You are not alone if you secretly wish for more timely delivery of Schedule K-1s to investors, but it is important to understand the root cause of delays that seem to happen every year. The issue isn’t procrastination by third-party providers in relaying information, but rather their inability to access and share data within a tiered structure in an efficient and risk-averse way.

RSM uses an integrated approach to solve this age-old problem. Connecting fund administration with tax services through our teams and digital platform enables efficient collaboration in meeting compliance requirements. Compliance calculations are automated using software programmed with the latest tax rules and jurisdictional laws. And the system adapts to new, complex reporting requirements, including Schedule K-3, to eliminate the risk of K-1 delivery delays to investors.

2. Access more organizational data

It goes without saying that having increased tax data visibility and access would help you make more informed investment and business decisions to maximize returns, manage risk, and maintain the trust and confidence of investors. But if you are like many fund CFOs working with antiquated processes and technology, it is a constant struggle to gather timely insights within a tiered structure. Wishful thinking will not speed up data delivery—but automation will.

RSM’s proprietary tax technology enables complex partnerships to effectively manage tax compliance and reporting obligations while surfacing insights to guide investment strategies and transactions. Our platform’s modern architecture unlocks unprecedented access to tax data and analytics, allowing you to view configurable reporting for in-depth analysis and business intelligence. Information is shared throughout the system in real-time to display complex organizational structures and related investors instantly, so you can understand the flow of data throughout the entire structure.

3. Trust the accuracy of tax data

Complex partnerships are being stretched by increasingly complex regulations, which elevates the need for a reliable source to help you navigate tax law changes. RSM’s proprietary technology is programmed with the latest tax rules and jurisdictional laws to automate compliance calculations and keep up with changing regulations.

Meanwhile, as you manage vendors, it also falls on your shoulders to mitigate risks and increase transparency for your stakeholders. RSM centralizes data storage with the latest secure, cloud-based technology, providing a full, transparent audit trail of platform interactions. You can view real-time tax information with 24/7 web access.

4. Get administration and tax to work together faster

When managing a fund, it is customary to work with more than one-third party; however, doing so can lead to inconsistent and even conflicting perspectives and technology platforms. Further, off-site teams often work in silos, which can create a bottleneck for data sharing (as witnessed every year during the preparation of tax returns).

Ideally, administration and tax would work in tandem to centralize the organization and distribution of tax documents across related funds. RSM has integrated fund administration with tax services to improve workflow and facilitate information sharing using a cloud-based platform that can scale with your organization as needed.

5. Take back control of your time

Outsourcing back-office functions to third-party service providers allows you to concentrate on your core responsibilities of driving business performance and maximizing returns for investors. But if you are like most fund CFOs, you probably find yourself serving as the liaison between the administration and tax teams, which consumes considerable time that could be better spent on your business priorities.  

It is time to stop serving as the go-between and focus on more valuable activities. RSM’s integrated approach enables your administration and tax teams to work in unison to streamline processes and improve information sharing. The result is simplified fund and tax management that allows you to take back control of your time.

The takeaway

As a fund CFO, you need an advanced solution that can automate data management and provide enhanced insights for complex back-office functions. While many service providers have a technology platform for fund administration, RSM has developed a next-generation solution that fully integrates book-side information with tax-side data to enable people, processes, and technology to coalesce at scale. This exciting development will empower you to deliver tax compliance and reporting faster than ever.

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