Most tax reporting contracts get evaluated on price and feature scope. The clauses that actually determine whether a bank has a calm or a chaotic Q2 rarely get the same attention — because they're buried in the SLA appendix, not the pitch deck.
Three numbers worth reading closely before signing anything:
- Delivery guarantee, measured against the client deadline — not your internal one. "Reports delivered within 5 business days" sounds reassuring, until you check what it's measured against. Five days before your internal review cycle can still mean two days before a client's filing deadline. The number that matters is the buffer between delivery and the date a client — or their external advisor — actually needs the document in hand.
- What counts as a "correction," and how fast it's resolved. Vendors track error rates differently. Some only count a discrepancy as an error once a client has already noticed it. Others count and fix classification issues during internal QA, before a report ever ships. Ask specifically: what's the average time between a flagged issue and a corrected report reaching the client?
- What happens when an authority challenges a calculation years later. This is the clause almost nobody asks about, and the one that matters most when it's actually needed. If a tax authority questions a calculation from three years ago, is reconstructing the full calculation logic — and supporting the bank through that inquiry — part of the service, or a separate, billable engagement negotiated under pressure?
None of these numbers show up in a demo. All three show up in April.
