Tax

We enjoyed stable, high demand for Tax services in all markets during the year, despite the economic environment, achieving net sales of +9%. The CIS and Spain saw particularly strong growth of 57% and 29% respectively.

Key services are growing, particularly Indirect Tax advice +30%, M&A Tax advice +31% and Global Compliance Management for companies facing tax demands in multiple jurisdictions. Our Legal services business are also growing strongly, particularly in Spain and Turkey.

Segmental contribution grew by 7%, reflecting the expansion of our offshore capabilities and continuing tight cost control.

However, our clients’ tax affairs are becoming both more complex and more global in nature. Tax authorities the world over — both in mature markets with an austerity agenda and in increasingly efficient emerging markets — are also collecting taxes more aggressively.

Our task is to help clients devise tax management strategies that are both compliant and sustainable.

We maintain close links with the authorities to make sure our services remain relevant, now and in the future. We pass our understanding of changing tax agendas on to clients so that they can also plan ahead and avoid reputational risks. Our Global Tax Principles, drawn up during the year, guide our people on how to offer responsible tax advice.

We also established a community of our lead partners to share best practice and market insight to help us offer key global clients a wider range of our services. We work increasingly closely with our Advisory colleagues to help clients in priority sectors to organise themselves, and operate and complete transactions, tax-efficiently.

Our emphasis is on providing high-value, trusted advice. But we are examining our delivery model to see if we can carry out standard compliance tasks more cost-effectively. We have established an Indirect Tax Compliance Centre in Budapest, for example, and will look for other opportunities both onshore and offshore.

People are absolutely vital to our success. Our tax clients place a high value on their relationships with our professionals. We continued to recruit heavily across KPMG Europe LLP last year, including bringing in some important senior hires to build on key areas of expertise.