Helping the banking and finance industry master complex VAT calculations

Overview

The UK is a world leader in banking and finance. According to a recent report conducted in association with the Department for International Trade, foreign direct investment (FDI) into the UK has surpassed £94 billion making it one of the largest in the world.

Following on from the 2008 global financial crisis, the uncertainty of Brexit and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an abundance of changes occurring. However, the banking and finance sector remains a major contributor to the UK's economic success.

The VAT calculations for UK banks or foreign banks with a UK presence can be extremely complex. Depending on the product or service the bank offers such as trade finance, retail banking or commercial loans; there will be a requirement for various data-driven VAT calculations.

Although the Making Tax Digital (MTD) phase 2 mandate has been postponed until April 2021, there's never been a better time to leverage the capabilities of a digital tax solution such as ARKK's Platform.

The problem

The complexity of financial banking VAT calculations is highlighted by one of ARKK's clients, a leading Israeli bank. "We offer numerous banking products and services such as current and savings accounts, mortgages, loans and credit cards to name a few. Each of these requires a separate VAT calculation making it incredibly complex and prone to errors".

Within many UK banks, there has been significant investment into their processes to ensure they meet all necessary tax requirements. However, this skill and expertise is predominately kept with staff and hasn't been documented leading to knowledge being lost over time due to staff leaving or forgetting the processes. 

With MTD phase 2 looming, there was a real opportunity for the leading Israeli bank to digitise their systems and processes to take advantage of the mandate.

The solution

ARKK knew that we could provide the ideal platform to help alleviate process digitisation issues and also allows the bank to remain compliant with the upcoming mandate changes.

"The ARKK team really took the time to understand our business and the multiple products and services we have. Knowing that VAT banking calculations can be complex, they automated them within the platform saving us time and reducing errors" comments the leading Israeli bank.

With the implementation of ARKK's Automation Platform, the bank has not only digitised their VAT process but also ensured their compliance with current and future tax mandate changes.

Summary

Selecting ARKK can have several advantages for companies in the banking and finance sector such as:

• Bespoke complex automated calculations for various products and services
• Documented and systemised processes replicated in for:sight to retain knowledge and methodology