GlobeNewswire·Nov 11, 2026, 8:00 AM ET

Only One in Six Enterprises Treats Indirect Tax as a Standing Board Item

VERX

Vertex Inc. released the 2026 Vertex CompOps™ Index, a global study on how enterprises govern indirect tax & compliance & the collaboration between tax, IT, and finance functions.
Only 16% of enterprises report indirect tax as a standing agenda item at board or executive committee levels, while 43% only discuss it when problems arise.
Enterprises with periodic board-level tax discussions are four times less likely to have errors identified by external parties (4% vs. 16%) & half as likely to make taxability changes manually (13% vs. 26%).
Companies addressing tax at the board level are nearly twice as likely to respond to tax authority notices within five business days (48% vs. 26%).
54% of enterprises with regular board-level tax discussions utilize AI autonomously or for routine work, compared to only 21% of those that do not.
The top AI capability tier, representing 13% of studied enterprises, treats indirect tax as an investment priority, with 85% having IT leaders describe it as a funded strategic priority versus 5% in the least capable tier.
Proactive regulatory monitoring via automated updates is reported by 55% of the most capable AI tier, compared to just 9% of the least capable tier.
52% of enterprises take a conservative approach when lacking sufficient evidence to prove tax positions.
Among companies holding indirect tax reserves, 73% state that at least 25% of the reserve is tied to tax treatments they cannot readily substantiate due to insufficient evidence rather than unclear laws.
The study surveyed 750 decision-makers at enterprises with at least $250 million in annual revenue & 1,000+ employees across the US, UK, Germany, & France during August & September 2026.
Research director Kevin Permenter stated that operational maturity in indirect tax depends more on governance than organization size.

Company: Vertex Inc.
Keywords: Nasdaq:VERX, Vertex Inc., indirect tax compliance, tax compliance automation, Vertex, 2026 Vertex CompOps™ Index, tax governance, ai in tax compliance