Thomson Reuters Launches Superfund Excise Tax Calculations

Thomson Reuters is introducing a new tax calculation in its ONESOURCE Determination product for companies impacted by the new Chemicals Superfund Excise Tax and Hazardous Substances Tax. The tax was part of the 2021 Infrastructure Bill signed into law on November 15, 2021, and comes into effect on July 1, 2022, taxing almost 200 chemicals and substances, with the chemicals taxed at double the rate of the original Superfund tax that expired in 1995.

“The complexities of the reinstated Superfund taxes can’t be overstated,” says Sunil Pandita, president, Corporates segment at Thomson Reuters. “Most chemical and petrochemical companies impacted by the new law will need to accurately calculate the volume of an evolving list of substances in their products and report and pay the taxes to the IRS semi-monthly. Currently, systems just aren’t prepared, and manual processes require even more resources to maintain accuracy and timeliness. I’m proud of the ONESOURCE product team at Thomson Reuters for quickly bringing a product to market to help companies comply with the ever-complex regulatory environment.” 

Leveraging the existing cloud-based ONESOURCE Determination product, Thomson Reuters quickly built a volumetric-based tax calculator specific to the new Superfund tax requirements. As additional substances and chemicals are added to the regulation, ONESOURCE Determination will update with zero downtime, allowing companies the ability to accurately calculate taxes and confidently report and deposit funds to the government semi-monthly.

“ONESOURCE Determination now covers all forms of indirect taxes, and the only technology on the market to simply and accurately calculate the reinstated Superfund excise tax,” says Ray Grove, vice president of product at Thomson Reuters. “Our already world-class indirect tax platform is even stronger, leveraging volumetric-based calculations and cloud-native architecture, providing real-time updates with no downtime. With an estimated 500 or more substances to be ultimately added to the list and $14.5 billion in tax revenue over a 10-year period, companies can’t rely on manual processes to comply with the semi-monthly reporting and tax deposits required by the new law. ONESOURCE Determination can accurately calculate the excise tax, saving companies time, resources, and potential monetary penalties.”  

The new Superfund excise tax will impact more companies than the original law, as the substance composition that triggers the tax has been reduced to 20 percent, from the original 50 percent rule. ONESOURCE Determination integrates with the six major ERPs as well as more than 40 other providers and is easily added to existing ONESOURCE products or alongside other tax calculators, simplifying this part of the supply chain.

While the new law increases the tax liability for many chemical and petrochemical manufacturers, the revenue generated will go to cleaning up hazardous waste sites to improve the environment in and around the more than 1,300 spots in the U.S.