eClerx and Comply Exchange have teamed up to offer an end-to-end tax reporting solution that is designed to help financial institutions meet the requirements of regulations including the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) and the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
The partnership brings together business process outsourcing provided by Mumbai based eClerx with tax reporting software provided by London based Comply Exchange. The resulting solution is offered as a managed service, with Comply Exchange hosting the software and eClerx running operational aspects of the service. Alternatively, the software can be deployed in-house and supported by eClerx. It has also been integrated into a utility used by a number of banking participants.
Alan Paris, principal at eClerx, explains: “Fatca and CRS have significant implications for reporting and compliance, and highlight the reality that processing requirements to meet regulations will soon escalate exponentially. Our alliance with Comply Exchange provides the easiest and most cost-effective way for institutions to process the mountain of paperwork that Fatca and CRS demand.”
The companies’ tax reporting solution provides an automated process in which eClerx digitises electronic and paper documents, normalises and processes the data, and loads it into a database that can be searched and used to track data back to original documentation. The data is then uploaded to the Comply Exchange software where it is processed for tax reporting. Features of the solution include structured and rules-based workflows with escalation protocols, support for customer segmentation, form validation for client details and updates to banks’ internal systems, multi-jurisdictional coverage for Fatca and its UK equivalent CDOT, and withholding calculations.
The solution is available worldwide and leverages eClerx’s offshore delivery centres in India. Paris says several clients are working with the solution, primarily to support Fatca compliance. He acknowledges tax reporting solutions from other vendors in the market, but differentiates the eClerx and Comply Exchange solution on the basis of eClerx’s experience of tax operations and processing, and Comply Exchange’s ability to deliver flexible and scalable technology. Looking forward, Paris says eClerx and Comply Exchange are developing the software and business process operations to support more regulations that include tax reporting requirements.
