When tax meets trade stronger supply chains can be built, writes Chris Hall (pictured below), Senior Tax Officer – Global Tax & Compliance at Vertex.
The global supply chain has long been defined by its complexity. Every time an item is purchased and delivered to a customer, there are a wide variety of processes, relationships and strategic decisions that must align to ensure it arrives on time.
However, evolving global dynamics and shifting trade policies have pushed supply chain resilience to the top of the agenda, making this already complex process even more challenging. To adapt, supply chain teams will need to explore other ways to simplify operations and collaborate with broader parts of the organisation – and one often underutilised area is the tax team.
Why Tax Teams Are Critical
With unique access to data, deep knowledge of indirect tax regulations, and familiarity with enterprise systems, tax professionals are well-positioned to support supply chain strategies, particularly in a time of rapid legal and regulatory change.
Indirect tax departments sit in the middle of regulatory compliance, enterprise technology, and global trade, so they often have access to a wealth of operational data that supply chain teams may not have. They also often have a deeper understanding of the business processes than other departments because they must defend the Company from audits, which involves deep dives on transaction data. This means they can become collaborators in building adaptive and forward-looking supply chain strategies.
For example, by analysing VAT data, an indirect tax department can identify discrepancies in supplier performance, highlight inefficiencies in cross-border logistics, or spot patterns that suggest regulatory exposure. When shared with supply chain teams, these insights can drive improvements, supporting more informed procurement decisions.
Getting Ahead of the Disruption
As changes continually disrupt supply chains, logistic professionals must ensure they have strategies in place to stay ahead. Tax teams can play a central role in building these plans by helping establish early warning systems that detect risks before they escalate.
There are three foundational elements to making that happen:
- Creating an enterprise-wide data repository
An effective risk strategy built on a centralised data storage system, or “data lake”, offers key benefits to supply chain professionals by consolidating financial, operational, tax, and qualitative data in one place. This enables early detection of disruptions, facilitates anomaly identification, supports more informed cross-functional decisions, and ensures consistent supplier risk scoring. With integrated data, teams can model scenarios, streamline reporting, and improve visibility, ultimately enhancing supply chain resilience.
- Using AI to enable actionable alarms
AI excels at finding patterns that humans miss, especially across seemingly disconnected systems. To make these tools truly effective, businesses must calibrate AI models to avoid false positives and focus on highly specific, business-relevant scenarios. One example might be flagging suppliers at high risk of running short on a key component due to regulatory delays or tax changes.
- Revisiting the risk management playbook
Too often, risk frameworks focus on classification without detailing the steps to respond. In contrast, a robust early warning system outlines clear next steps, who is responsible, what action to take, and how to follow up. These “next best actions” ensure that alarms lead to decisions, not just alerts.
Tax professionals are well equipped to help define these processes and integrate them into broader risk governance structures.
Tax as a partner
As global disruptions continue to reshape businesses, supply chain teams should look at tax teams as partners. Together they are no longer confined to compliance and reporting, tax teams have the tools, data, and perspective to be true partners in supply chain resilience.
By embedding tax professionals into supply chain strategy, companies can tap into powerful insights that reduce cost, manage risk, and improve responsiveness. Ultimately, strengthening supply chains through tax collaboration isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity. The future belongs to companies that can adapt fast, respond smartly, and make resilience part of their strategy.
