Planning, provision, compliance and controversy - all the stages of the Tax Lifecycle.  Each stage contains its own trials and tribulations, as well as opportunities. 

My questions are:

• Which stage do you spend the most time on?
• Which stage would you like to spend more time on?

Depending on your answers to the questions, the next question is, why or why not.  Why do you spend the most time on a certain stage?  Internal or external pressures?  Cost-benefit analysis?  Resources? 

Why do you want to spend more time on a certain stage than others?  Requirements or desire?  Strength or weakness?

What am I trying to say?  Well, each company either endures each stage or thrives in each stage.  Each company most likely focuses on one stage (usually compliance) than any other.  Although, the provision stage is a close second (maybe first) for public companies.  Controversy and planning - ahhh, the fun stages (at least I think so).  This is the area that most companies seem to neglect or focus on less.  Less focus on these stages is often a result of the lack of resources (financial and people). 

CONCLUSIONAnswer the questions above for yourself, then re-prioritize based on what is most important to your company and to yourself.  Make a difference.  Make your state tax lifecycle fun!  You might as well, we only live once.  Let's not just endure or survive, let's thrive (at work and at home).