An IRS notice arrives for one of your entities. The finance team forwards it to the outside CPA firm and moves on. A week later, a firm the company stopped working with two years ago called to ask about the same notice. Their power of attorney was never revoked, so the IRS sent them a copy too.
Compliance reporting answers: Are we meeting obligations? Are returns filed correctly? Are we paying the right tax?
Investor reporting answers: What is our tax strategy? What risks do we carry? How does tax impact value? How is tax aligned with business strategy?
That defense lives in documentation – the contemporaneous records, organized support, and clear evidence that you took your tax positions intentionally, with solid reasoning, and in compliance with law. Most companies are underprepared on this front. They file returns without maintaining the documentation that actually defends those positions when questioned.
Your tax function appears to be working fine. Returns are filed on time. Compliance deadlines are met. There are no penalties or audit notices. Leadership assumes tax is under control. But you have no idea what you don’t know
Most companies manage tax reactively. Planning happens in November. Decisions are made without tax visibility. Opportunities pass because no one was looking ahead. By the time tax considerations surface, most major choices are already locked in.
Private equity ownership changes the tax equation. Not just incrementally; fundamentally. What worked as a tax approach during a company’s independent operating phase may be structurally inadequate for what PE sponsors expect, what deal structures demand, and what reporting timelines require.
Adding a new entity is deceptively simple. A few legal filings, some updated organizational charts, perhaps a call with your attorney and on paper, the structure grows. What doesn’t grow automatically is the tax infrastructure required to manage that structure well.
There’s a version of this story that plays out in boardrooms and finance offices across the country, and you’ve probably lived it. The VP of Tax moves on, or the company simply hasn’t gotten around to building a formal tax function yet, and without fanfare or official announcement, the CFO absorbs the responsibility.
There’s a pervasive assumption in many growing businesses: as long as tax returns are filed on time and there are no penalties, the tax function is performing adequately.
As businesses expand, tax complexity increases—fast. Learn the foundational elements required to build a tax function that scales, including process design, workflow structure, risk management, and executive oversight.
