PwC Luxembourg is set to launch its new tax reporting service for private clients of local banks. Based on SOFGEN SaveTax software solution, the service will allow banks to outsource the tax reporting of their clients. The firm invited banking professionals for a demonstration.

A scalable tool for high-quality results

“With this service, banks will benefit not only from our tax expertise but also from our proven track record in providing major international groups with tax reporting services. They will then be able to provide their own clients with a flawless service, limit their risk exposure and focus on their core business” says Murielle Filipucci, partner and Banking Tax Leader at PwC Luxembourg.

A few years ago, only a handful of clients sought tax assistance whereas today most of them require it and expect the service from their bank. A growing number of banks are now willing to outsource this non-core but essential service.

The SOFGEN SaveTax software uses data on clients' income, assets and country of residence in combination with the latest financial, legal and tax information to analyse and compute the amounts to be declared. It then generates the required tax information to help clients to fill out their tax returns for the respective local authorities. To guarantee a first-class service, PwC Luxembourg makes sure all necessary steps are met: the firm performs a tax rules update in the residence countries of the banks’ private clients, prepares tax returns and performs regular checks on computations on a sample of reports. Banks may add further countries of residence to the tool as and when required.

“Data confidentiality and IT security are the cornerstone of our service. Banks can rely on our infrastructure and expertise” says Jean-Philippe Ricard, IT Consulting partner at PwC Luxembourg. The firm uses highly secured servers which are all located in Luxembourg. “Banks can also customise the documents they present to their private clients with their own brand identity and logo.”

Proven tax reporting experience

Since 2010, PwC has been stepping up its tax reporting service offering. It helps its clients define a tax reporting strategy, select appropriate software solutions, as well as implement and test the latter. It further provides an unrivalled tax watch service. Combining this expertise with the use of SOFGEN SaveTax makes PwC Luxembourg a one-stop shop for banks to outsource their entire foreign private tax reporting operations, so that they are better able to focus on their core business.

Budget austerity has resulted in countries enacting more stringent regulation. They imposed greater transparency and increased exchanges of information regarding the income and wealth of their registered taxpayers living abroad. The latest regulatory developments suggest that private clients will increasingly demand assistance in tax reporting from their banks.