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Vertex Releases New Research Pointing to a Structural Shift in How Global Enterprises Must Manage Indirect Tax and Compliance
Vertex released new research pointing to a structural shift in how global enterprises must manage indirect tax and compliance. The research identifies two compounding forces that work against every transaction record from the moment a decision is made to the moment it must be defended at audit: Defensibility Drift—the widening gap between the decisions a business makes at the point of transaction and its ability to prove those outcomes to authorities across a global, fragmenting landscape of jurisdictions. Today, 58% of enterprises face highly complex indirect tax audits, 45% cite keeping up with changing tax regulations as a top compliance challenge, and 80% can reach audit readiness only through significant manual effort—with 46% of audit issues stemming from a mix of factors, not a single cause, a signature of systemic drift rather than isolated error. CompOps Drag (Compliance Operations Drag)—the compounding operational cost of running compliance without a coordinating discipline: the manual rework, integration friction, and delayed audit response created by fragmented tax, ERP, e-commerce, and reporting systems never designed to run continuous compliance in real time. Integrating tax with existing systems is cited by 56% of enterprise leaders as their most common challenge. 59% want easier integration above all else, and even as 94% expect closer IT-Tax-Finance collaboration, only 12% have achieved full end-to-end integration of those systems. Left ungoverned, drift and drag compound into a vicious cycle of complexity—where every new mandate, manual workaround, and failed audit deepens exposure and drains strategic capacity. Their cumulative cost has a name and a number: the Compliance Confidence Gap—the growing distance between the revenue an enterprise could book with defensible confidence and the revenue it conservatively reports because it cannot prove every determination. When confidence erodes, enterprises play it safe at the transaction. The result: 1 in 3 US enterprises leave $1 million+ on the table every year, by their own estimate, for example by treating uncertain transactions as taxable, missing exemptions, or not reclaiming eligible indirect tax. The same lifecycle that produces the vicious cycle can compound the other way—into a virtuous cycle of control. The Decision-to-Defense approach describes what that discipline demands of any enterprise, organized around four operational pillars—Determine, Prove, Defend, and Improve—coordinated by Govern as one continuous flow: Determine—accurate tax calculation and compliance in real time, the starting point of every decision. Prove—every determination backed by an audit-defensible source of tax truth. Defend—readiness for audit, notice, appeal, and litigation, where the determination is tested and stands. Improve—configurability and continuous learning that adapt controls and tax logic as business, regulation, and risk change. Governed end-to-end, the lifecycle turns compliance from a cost of doing business into a source of growth—where outcomes are accurate, audits are answerable, and the Compliance Confidence Gap closes. The findings draw on the most comprehensive evidence base Vertex has assembled on the state of indirect tax and compliance: more than 2,100 senior enterprise decision-makers surveyed in 2026 across two research firms. Emerald Research Group conducted two quantitative studies—one among 402 enterprise decision-makers in the US and Germany ($150 million+/€150 million+ revenue; 1,000+ employees), and one among 650 enterprise decision-makers across the US and Europe ($250 million+ revenue; 1,000+ employees)—each with authority over enterprise tax and compliance software. Censuswide, on behalf of Vertex, surveyed an additional 1,050 senior IT, Finance, and Tax leaders across the UK, US, France, DACH, the Nordics, and Benelux. Full methodology and question-level sourcing are available on request.