The operational effectiveness of the tax department is now more critical than ever, and today’s tax department leaders are looking for ways to minimize risk and provide high-value strategic planning and insight. As corporate tax complexity increases, so does the risk of mistakes, penalties, and missed opportunities. This white paper discusses the changing landscape of the tax department and the problems with some current tax management efforts, such as manual data entry, compliance, and reporting, with little time or opportunity to deliver real business value to the organization. New tax automation software can transform the role of the tax department into a highly-valued function within the company, and should be a major topic in most tax departments. With the right tools, the tax department, CFO, and the entire organization can work together more collaboratively, while dramatically improving the tax department’s ability to more accurately manage and optimize the company’s tax position.