Carrier - Tax Compliance for Equipment and Service Contract Order Process

Case Study

Carrier – Tax Compliance for Equipment and Service Contract Order Process

Carrier - Tax Compliance for Equipment and Service Contract Order Process

This case study focuses on the tax compliance challenges faced by the Carrier Team, who utilized the Salesforce Sales Cloud and CPQ platform to streamline their Quote Process for HVAC equipment and Annual Service Contracts. While their Sales Order process was efficient, they encountered issues with tax calculation, variable tax rates for different product groups, and manual exemption management. These challenges caused significant delays in finalizing orders before processing and invoicing in SAP. As a result, Carrier sought an automated solution to streamline their processes and ensure compliance across the system.

Problem

Predetermined tax calculation: The existing system lacked flexibility in tax calculation, as it utilized predetermined rates without considering variable tax rates for different product groups. This led to inaccurate tax calculations and potential compliance issues.
Manual exemption management: Exemption management was a manual process, causing delays in finalizing orders. The manual nature of this process increased the risk of errors and hindered overall efficiency.
Delays in order finalization: The tax compliance challenges resulted in significant delays in finalizing orders before the processing and invoicing stages in SAP. This impacted the overall order fulfillment process and customer satisfaction.

Solution

To address these problems, People Tech conducted a thorough review of the existing process and identified the bottlenecks and operational delays impacting the Sales Order Process. They proposed the implementation of the OneSource Tax Connector for Sales Cloud as the solution.

The following steps were taken to streamline the tax compliance process:

Standardized tax request: The team mapped the Sales Order and Sales Order Line-Item details necessary for taxation to a standardized tax request. This ensured consistent and accurate tax calculations throughout the Sales Order flow.
Integration of Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Cloud: The OneSource Tax Connector integrated Thomson Reuters ONESOURCE Cloud's Indirect Taxation Service within the Sales Order flow. This integration enabled proper taxation processing at both the header and line levels in the Sales Order, ensuring compliance.
treamlined product catalogue: The product catalogue in Salesforce was streamlined for taxation purposes. The team mapped each product against US Sales Tax Product categories, enabling the correct taxation for equipment and services.

Results:

The implementation of the OneSource Tax Connector for Sales Cloud and the streamlined tax compliance process yielded significant improvements for Carrier. The results achieved were as follows:

200% reduction in Total turnaround time: The Sales Order process experienced a remarkable 200% reduction in the total turnaround time. The streamlined tax compliance process eliminated delays, allowing for quicker order finalization.
Performance gains for large order volumes: The solution demonstrated improved performance, enabling the system to process taxation on Sales Order lines greater than 500 items. This scalability ensured efficiency even with high-volume orders.
3X improvement in visibility for product-based taxation: The implementation of the OneSource Tax Connector provided a 3X improvement in visibility for the product-based taxation process. This enhanced visibility allowed for better monitoring and control over tax compliance.

Overall, the automated tax compliance solution significantly improved efficiency, accuracy, and compliance within Carrier’s Sales Order process. The streamlined process resulted in faster order finalization, better performance with large order volumes, and enhanced visibility into the product-based taxation process.