Ah, taxes. We hate paying them, but they’re still vital for providing the services that keep society running (or not, depending on your point of view). However, due to how confusing they can be, many companies are turning to software that helps ensure brokers and businesses are complying to all tax codes and regulations. In one such instance, Torstone Technology has updated its Inferno post-trade reporting solution that helps users comply with Europe’s new Financial Transactions Tax, taking some of the trouble out of keeping up with it.

As around 11 European countries have imposed the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) for a range of equities and derivatives, businesses are scrambling to account for the changes that they will have to make in order to comply with it. As anyone who has had to deal with sudden changes in tax codes can attest, that is a frustrating and often times confusing process.

Fortunately, Torstone Technology’s Inferno solution will be able to help with that. The taxation logic within it can be adapted and updated as regulations are changed and clarified, so it won’t fall behind on the laws and times. It calculates net trading positions across source systems throughout an organization, determining the best tax efficiency and containing transaction and reference data that can be accessed easily to account for any new changes.

“FTT is a core systems upgrade as far as we are concerned which means that it will be automatically provided to clients,” says Brian Collings, chief executive of Torstone Technology. “The inherent design, support for a broad range of asset classes within one system and the ease of centralizing trade and reference data from disparate front office systems, has made it relatively straightforward for us to implement the changes in Inferno and provide the data required for FTT regulatory reporting.”

If given the choice, most would prefer to not have to deal with taxes at all. But the fact is, they’re something that must be dealt with properly, so anything that can make it easier is welcome. Torstone’s Inferno post-trade reporting solution is providing an improved ease of compliance that many will appreciate, and those who aren’t yet Torstone customers might want to start considering it.