Part of the SYNAPSE 2026 series | Panel: Jasmine Morris (Fonoa), Jason Abney (Disney), Roisin Nolan (Booking)

The conversation around tax transformation tends to focus on tools, mandates, and data architecture. What gets less attention is the thing that determines whether any of it actually works: the people behind it. The structure of the team, the skills they have, and how well they collaborate with the rest of the business are just as consequential as the technology choices — and considerably harder to get right.

That was the focus of one of the most human sessions at SYNAPSE 2026, Fonoa's annual conference for indirect tax professionals. Moderated by Jasmine Morris from Fonoa, the panel brought together Jason Abney, who has led a large-scale tax transformation at one of the world's most recognisable entertainment companies, and Roisin Nolan, Head of Tax at Booking, whose global operations make cross-functional tax compliance a daily operational reality. Between them, they made a clear case that the best tax teams right now are not just good at tax.

1. If you work in indirect tax, you need to be a technologist too

The days of tax sitting at arm's length from the systems that run the business are over. Mandate changes arrive fast. E-invoicing requirements vary by jurisdiction. Real-time reporting demands that tax and technology teams are working from the same playbook. When they are not, the gap creates risk.

Roisin Nolan from Booking described what that risk looks like in practice. A sudden change in a mandate in one jurisdiction does not just create a compliance task. It creates a cascade of pressure across product, finance, legal, and operations until someone can confirm the business is compliant and trading can continue.

"We call it a tsunami."
— Roisin Nolan, Head of Tax, Booking

Managing that kind of disruption requires relationships and communication structures that are already in place before the wave hits. Tax professionals who cannot have a substantive conversation with engineers about data flows, system design, and integration requirements become dependent on people who do not fully understand the compliance implications of the decisions they are making. The language gap between tax and technology is a risk gap.

"We need to meet technology people in the middle."
— Roisin Nolan, Head of Tax, Booking

2. The best teams invest in learning as a structural commitment

One of the most practical insights from this session came from the approach Jason Abney has taken to building and retaining a high-performing tax team. The team is centralised, deliberately cross-trained, and kept current through a standing commitment to learning: two hours set aside every Friday for each team member to learn something new. Indirect tax professionals who understand direct tax. Direct tax professionals who understand indirect. The outcome has been a team with genuinely low turnover.

That matters more than it might seem. In a compliance environment that changes as fast as indirect tax does, institutional knowledge is hard to rebuild once it leaves. Investing in the development of the people already in the team is not just a culture decision. It is a strategic one.

Roisin's practical advice for managing the unpredictable sits alongside that: "Leave a 10% buffer for madness." Mandate changes, authority inquiries, system failures, and regulatory surprises are not edge cases in a global tax function. They are regular features of the job. Teams that plan as if everything will go smoothly will always be in reactive mode.

3. Blending tax and technology is a hiring decision as much as a training one

Building a team that can operate at the intersection of tax and technology requires intentional hiring. The profile of a great tax professional is changing. Subject matter expertise still matters, but the ability to understand the systems data moves through, to collaborate with engineering teams, and to communicate compliance risk in terms that resonate with product and finance leadership is becoming just as important.

Investing in tax technology hires and blending those capabilities into the core team, rather than keeping them separate, is how the best organisations are building for the long term. The goal is a tax function that does not need to ask for help every time a system changes, because the people inside it already understand how the systems work.

Bottom line: the strongest tax teams are built, not assembled

The organisations that are furthest ahead on tax transformation have not just bought better tools. They have invested in the people operating those tools: in their technical fluency, their cross-functional relationships, and their capacity to handle the unexpected without the whole function going into crisis mode. That kind of team does not happen by accident. It is the result of deliberate decisions about hiring, training, structure, and how much room the business gives tax to grow into the role it now needs to play.