Comcast changes the channel on property tax management
Results
Streamlined compliance
Improved processes
Employee satisfaction
Integrated systems
Summary
Results
- Streamlined compliance
- Improved processes
- Employee satisfaction
- Integrated systems
Tax challenges
- Process inefficiency
- Tax complexity
- Employee burnout
- Compliance risk
Product used
Avalara Property Tax
Improved management of personal property and real property tax for businesses of all sizes.
Benefits
- Single, accessible solution for complex property tax management
- Significant reduction in time needed to process property tax returns
- Improved process for managing data sharing during tax audits
Industry type
Communications
Calculate taxes and file returns for VoIP, IoT, telecom, streaming, and cable products and services.
Company overview
Customer
Comcast
Industry
Communications
Tax type
Property tax
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. Comcast is principally focused on connectivity, aggregation, and streaming with 57 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. They deliver broadband, wireless, and video through the Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia.
Tax challenges
Comcast property assets sprawl across jurisdictional boundaries, making property tax compliance a complex puzzle. “We’ve got cables and all sorts of other electronic infrastructure that doesn’t really recognize jurisdictional boundaries,” says Allyssa DeCenzo, a property tax manager at Comcast. “We were doing all allocations manually, and then printing and mailing the returns for each jurisdiction.”
Property tax returns were due every two weeks of the first six months of each year. The manual effort to process and file thousands of them was a severe drain on the team.
Adding to the concern, the entire process was largely undocumented — it lived in the brain of a single compliance manager — creating another layer of risk. “We needed a consistent, centralized process that was accessible for everyone on the team,” says Allyssa.
Why Avalara?
Avalara Property Tax is a secure hub for real property and business personal property tax information and tax-related activities. It automates data entry for critical assessment notices and tax bill document management, deadline management, asset categorization, and depreciation schedules.
It also offers return form generation, assessment notices, appeals, and tax bills in one system. In doing so, it significantly streamlines Comcast’s compliance processes.
“Based on certain metrics that we provide, Avalara Property Tax distributes the costs at the asset-class level,” says Allyssa. “This gets allocated down to the individual jurisdictions and locations that our assets are located in.”
Tax challenges
- Process inefficiency
- Tax complexity
- Employee burnout
- Compliance risk
Product used
Avalara Property Tax
Improved management of personal property and real property tax for businesses of all sizes.
Benefits
- Single, accessible solution for complex property tax management
- Significant reduction in time needed to process property tax returns
- Improved process for managing data sharing during tax audits
Industry type
Communications
Calculate taxes and file returns for VoIP, IoT, telecom, streaming, and cable products and services.
“With Avalara’s help we can do more tasks in less time, which provides a better work-life balance.”
—Allyssa DeCenzo
Property Tax Manager
“With Avalara’s help we can do more tasks in less time, which provides a better work-life balance.”
—Allyssa DeCenzo
Property Tax Manager
Results
With Avalara Property Tax, the team at Comcast is managing returns with half the resources that were previously dedicated to the task. “With Avalara’s help we can do more tasks in less time, which provides a better work-life balance,” says Allyssa.
The time reclaimed from the manual process also allows the team to be more proactive with assessments and valuations, so they file fewer appeals after the fact. “It’s a game changer,” says Allyssa.
Comcast gets audited hundreds of times per year, and Avalara Property Tax streamlines that process as well. “Having a home for all of your data and being able to run a report to get the information instantaneously has made a world of difference,” says Annette Crawford, Director of Property Tax.
