At hsp, agility is part of the service package included with every licence. We use this term to encompass all the elements that contribute to our speed and responsiveness towards our partners. hsp’s development department has been impressing clients for years with its rapid implementation of solutions. Whether it’s major issues such as the Property Tax Reform, whether Electronic balance sheet or Transfer pricing, hsp quickly delivers a fully functional, well-structured solution. This solution is also constantly being further developed. But how exactly does the hsp development team work behind the scenes?

First of all, hsp co-founder and consultant Wolfgang Schönwaldt speaks with junior consultant Gideon Odoom. Gideon is particularly pleased that it is now possible to create properties in the Opti.Tax Cloud within Opti.Tax Property Tax. When the programme was launched in the spring, this feature was not yet available. Now, tax practices can invite their clients via the cloud to create properties there, store the data, select the calculation model, and so on. Previously, whenever there was a major change, the tax practice’s staff had to re-enter everything from scratch. Now, the changes can be sent to the client as a task; the client then makes the corrections and sends them back. The practice can then simply import and update the additional data.

According to Wolfgang, the secret to the hsp solution’s success lies in its use of taxonomies. This foundation is so comprehensive and flexible that it can cover all areas relevant to tax consultancy, auditing and related fields. It is only for this reason that such a powerful property tax software solution could be built from scratch in a relatively short time, a solution that is regularly updated and consistently refined. Furthermore, the modules for various areas – such as procedural documentation, e-balance sheets, transfer pricing and anti-money laundering – work together seamlessly and without any disruption in data flow. The taxonomy-based solution enables updates in a way that no other framework can.

Clients and public authorities must play their part

However, Gideon also points out that Opti.Tax’s property tax module isn’t running perfectly everywhere yet. If someone is using an old version of Excel or Office, the current Excel template for data entry doesn’t work as well as it should. So if someone resists digitalisation and insists on using outdated programmes and processes, problems may arise that are no longer within hsp’s sphere of responsibility. Meanwhile, Wolfgang cannot understand one thing. The tax authorities were able to structure the e-balance sheet on an XBRL basis – and thus on a taxonomy basis. When it comes to property tax, however, they are backtracking, even though a taxonomy would have prevented many problems from arising in the first place. Here, he would like to see more courage and determination on the part of the authorities.

Next, the developers Martin Krause and Fabian Klapproth have their say; without whom Opti.Tax wouldn’t exist at all. The development department at hsp has had an exciting few months. Because there’s one thing everyone needs to realise, especially those sitting at their computers working with the software: the developers aren’t tax advisers; they’re experts in software development and programming. Creating software that covers a complex topic such as property tax reform cannot be achieved single-handedly. Fabian therefore mentions a number of key individuals who were, and remain, indispensable to the development of Opti.Tax Property Tax. Both the input during development and the final acceptance have been, and continue to be, handled by specialists.

There is no shortage of ideas and challenges

The development team overcame many challenges, particularly when it came to property tax. Fabian likes to cite the entry of telephone numbers as a curious example. At times, it was not possible to enter a telephone number beginning with a 0. The plus sign was also not allowed. In short: it was impossible to enter any number at all. The intricacies of the calculation models also proved quite a headache. Fabian also considers it worth mentioning the set-up and implementation of the Opti.Tax Cloud. This major project has taken seamless communication between law firms and clients to a whole new level.

However, the team will not be resting on its laurels. The development department has plenty planned for the coming months. In particular, implementing the option to submit the declarations of assessment to the tax authorities is currently the top priority. Further updates will follow, which will meet additional requirements set by the authorities as well as users’ requests.