This policy is applicable for the taxable year ending January 31, 2023
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Ownership and Approval
This document outlines the global tax approach (“Tax Policy”) of Genesys Cloud Services and consolidated legal entities worldwide (collectively ”Genesys”, “we” or “our”).
The Tax Policy is reviewed and approved at least annually by Genesys’ Audit Committee (“Audit Committee”). Genesys’ Vice President, Global Head of Tax (“Global Head of Tax”), reporting to the Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), is ultimately responsible for managing and executing the Tax Policy. Management and execution of the Tax Policy is supported by Genesys’ global Tax and Finance teams.
1.2 Audience
Within Genesys, the Tax Policy is primarily relevant to the Audit Committee, the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), CFO, Executive Staff, members of our Tax department and supporting finance personnel. It is also relevant to Finance, Law, Human Resources and Operational personnel and any other functions at Genesys whose actions or decisions have tax consequences. Genesys provides guidance and training on the Tax Policy to those with responsibility for making decisions that could impact the successful achievement of Genesys’ strategic tax objectives.
The Tax Policy is publicly available on Genesys’ website to allow external stakeholders to understand our approach to tax. We regard this Tax Policy as complying with the requirements applicable to us under the United Kingdom’s Schedule 19 Finance Act 2016.
1.3 Scope
The Tax Policy applies to the compliance, payment and reporting of all income, indirect and employment taxes owed and collected/paid by Genesys and its controlled subsidiaries worldwide.
SECTION 2: TAX STRATEGY
2.1 Overview of Genesys
Genesys is a global leader in customer experience orchestration. Through the power of our cloud, digital and AI technologies, organizations can realize Experience as a ServiceSM (EaaS), our vision for empathetic customer experiences at scale. EaaS combines the efficiency and effectiveness of contact centers with the ability to listen, understand, predict, act, and learn from every interaction to build empathetic, trusted, long-term customer relationships.
2.2 Our Sustainability Approach and Code of Conduct
Inspired by empathy and driven by innovation, we know that building a more sustainable future is the only way forward. We strive to embed sustainability deeply into everything we do, particularly as we position ourselves as the partner, employer and vendor of choice. As one of our core strategic priorities, sustainability goals are a priority for every leader, manager and employee across our organization. Our success stems from our customers’ trust and our employees’ dedication to our values-driven culture. Corporate responsibility is at the core of our business and is embedded across functions to make sure we consider sustainability and operate responsibly at every level.
Genesys is proud of our commitment to conduct business with the highest integrity. Our employees live and work across numerous political borders, in a variety of cultures, and often under a range of diverse legal frameworks. But we are all united in our commitment to conduct business ethically, lawfully and honestly. Every year, these values are reinforced as all employees are required to review and acknowledge our Code of Conduct. The Code outlines our commitment to maintaining our customers’ trust, loyalty and respect by designing and delivering innovative, high-quality, secure and reliable products and services and avoiding corrupt, illegal, dishonest or deceptive business practices.
2.3 Tax Policy Statement
Genesys’ Tax Policy is aligned with Genesys’ Sustainability approach and Genesys’ Code of Conduct .
In line with our Code of Conduct, Genesys abides by the rules and regulations of the jurisdictions in which we operate. We operate in a transparent, ethical, and socially responsible manner regarding our interactions with tax authorities and contributing to the communities in which we operate while being mindful of our responsibility to our shareholders.
A. Our tax risks and our approach to tax risk management
Genesys has a global footprint and is subject to tax throughout North & South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific regions. Given the scale of operations, the broad range of tax obligations and the complexity of the tax laws that we are required to comply with, uncertainty does arise in relation to tax liabilities. This uncertainty is referred to as tax risk.
We conduct operations through our worldwide subsidiaries and are, therefore, subject to complex transfer pricing regulations. There is uncertainty and inherent subjectivity in complying with these rules.
We engage an independent third-party provider to provide comparable sets of arms-length data, in accordance with OECD and local country guidelines, to determine third-party pricing, which we then use for setting our internal pricing between our various subsidiaries.
We proactively monitor tax law changes and comply with laws, regulations, disclosures, tax reporting, tax payment and tax filing responsibilities to the best of our ability by having the appropriate internal Tax and Finance expertise as well as standardized processes, procedures and internal controls implemented in accordance with the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Controls – Integrated Framework (2013). To mitigate tax risk, we operate a tax control framework to identify key tax risks and to manage those risks through appropriately designed and operated controls. These controls are subject to regular reviews by our Internal Audit department and by our external independent audit firm.
Genesys has ethics and compliance policies designed to prevent and detect violations of our Code of Conduct and has established mechanisms as outlined in our Code of Conduct (here) for parties both external and internal to Genesys to anonymously raise ethics and compliance concerns, including unethical or unlawful behaviour in relation to tax.
B. Our attitude towards tax planning
Our approach to tax planning is to support genuine commercial activity and be consistent with our business strategy. We aim to pay tax where our commercial activities take place, thereby creating value and ensuring that non-cooperative countries for tax purposes or so-called ‘tax havens’ are not used for the purpose of avoiding tax. Additionally, Genesys does not engage in “prohibited tax shelter transactions” meaning listed transactions, transactions with contractual protection, or confidential transactions as defined by the Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. or similar provisions in other taxing jurisdictions.
In structuring our commercial activities, we consider the tax laws of the countries within which we operate with a view to maximizing value on a sustainable basis for our shareholders. Where alternative routes exist to achieve the same commercial result, we generally prefer the most tax efficient approach in compliance with all relevant laws, while striving to maintain our primary objectives of paying the right amount of tax at the right time.
Any tax planning actions undertaken have commercial and economic substance and take into consideration the potential impact on our reputation and broader goals. We aim to make use of tax incentives and exemptions provided by law. Additionally, Genesys is motivated to engage in tax planning to comply with new or changing laws in one or more jurisdictions. All tax planning is subject to a robust documentation exercise, review, and approval process from multiple levels of expertise and diverse skillsets within Genesys and, typically, is undertaken with advice from external advisors. All tax planning activities are conducted in a manner consistent with the Code of Conduct.
We take a proactive approach to tax issues and if necessary, engage with tax authorities to confirm the correct application of tax law. We ensure our tax returns and disclosures are as clear as possible, and we strive to raise important issues proactively so that tax authorities can focus their resources effectively. We may engage tax policymakers and other key external stakeholders, both directly and through business associations, to help promote clear, administrable, and practical tax policies.
C. Our approach to dealing with tax authorities
We operate in a transparent, ethical, and socially responsible manner regarding working with tax authorities, including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. We strive to maintain a proactive professional and constructive relationship with tax authorities and help focus their resources on the most important issues by providing clear and concise documentation and support, disclosing all relevant facts, for the conclusions reached in our filings. To supply such documentation, we endeavour to comply with all local document retention requirements.
Given the uncertainty of tax rules and the complexity and scale of our operations we may face risks or uncertainty from time to time. In those cases, we proactively seek to identify, evaluate, manage, and reduce the risk of uncertainty or risk. Ultimately, if there is uncertainty, we apply a conservative and prudent standard of compliance to minimize the risk of uncertainty or dispute in a manner that is consistent with our business strategy.
Genesys does not tolerate tax evasion or tax fraud, nor is the facilitation of tax evasion or tax fraud by any person(s) acting on Genesys’ behalf tolerated.
Section 3: GOVERNANCE, STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION
3.1 Tax Governance Framework
Responsibility for tax governance, execution of the Tax Policy and the day-to-day operations of Genesys’ tax function lies with the Global Head of Tax. When a tax risk is identified, Genesys’ internal procedures require the risk to be brought to the attention of its senior management as well as the tax department.
3.2 Structure and Organization
The Global Head of Tax leads a Tax department of experienced tax professionals with appropriate professional qualifications, including certain specialized tax expertise. As a key component to the success of our Tax Policy, we are committed to providing team members with training as required to facilitate performance of their roles and to achieve their personal development objectives.
Supporting the Tax department is a team of appropriately qualified in-house Finance and Accounting professionals. We are committed to partnering with and providing training to Finance personnel, as well as non-Finance personnel in key areas that support the Tax Department such as Legal, Human Resources, and Operations, to ensure that they are able to inform the Tax department of relevant developments and to make decisions with tax consequences in the best interests of Genesys and in line with the Tax Policy.
Tax advice may be sought from external advisors in respect of material transactions where uncertainty exists or to supplement Genesys’ Tax and Finance team expertise in a specific tax area or jurisdiction. The Global Head of Tax is responsible for the appointment of external advisors, subject to Genesys Audit Committee approval of such services where appropriate.
