As tax systems evolve, the smartest businesses are paying close attention to the signals coming from the OECD. Its recent guidance to governments on digital tax and continuous controls provides an indication of not only where regulation is headed, but also of the kind of enterprise compliance design that will thrive in a digital compliance world — with e invoicing, interoperability, real-time reporting and data quality at the core.

In this session featuring Piet Battiau, the Head of VAT in the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, we explore why the principles behind the OECD’s guidance on DCTR (Digital Continuous Transaction Controls) matter just as much to multinational organisations as they do to tax authorities. Rather than focusing on individual mandates, the discussion breaks down the OECD’s guidance and translates it into practical design considerations for businesses.

Starting with e invoicing as the foundational data layer, the session examines why structured, standardised transaction data is becoming increasingly essential — not only for meeting current requirements, but for supporting real time reporting, interoperability, automation, and scalable compliance. From there, we look at how readiness for real time tax, system interoperability, and sustainable architecture choices can help organisations avoid fragmented, country by country fixes.