2015 Innovation Award Nominee: Thomson Reuters – Checkpoint Catalyst

Checkpoint Catalyst provides practical guidance for resolving tax questions that arise with business-related transactions. Yet Checkpoint Catalyst delivers so much more than any other type of online research library ever developed.

As the next generation of online tax research, Checkpoint Catalyst is the first of its kind to be created specifically for the web — not designed and formatted for print. Checkpoint Catalyst approaches online research from a fresh new perspective. A unique design allows users to skim topics or drill down for detail. Sources, diagrams, interactive tools and featured developments come together in context, all on one screen.

Content on Checkpoint Catalyst is always delivered in the appropriate context along with powerful insight into related issues—and works in conjunction with any existing Checkpoint subscriptions a user may have. Its unique tax research workflow brings together practical step-by-step expertise, multi-jurisdictional analysis, embedded tools, new developments and the weight of authority in a way that helps users quickly spot potential risks and achieve outcomes faster than any other alternative.

State, Federal, and U.S. International tax implications are covered as part of the main topic discussion, reducing the chance that something important could be missed and saving time by eliminating the need to do supplemental research in separate databases. Checkpoint Catalyst covers key business and tax-related topics and examines specific issues and transactions from a workflow perspective. Practical examples help researchers, CPAs and tax attorneys quickly see the way a law would apply under different fact patterns, and linking to primary sources allows them to drill down to the specific sub-section of a law.

The Recommended Documents feature in the Context Panel identifies relevant articles and treatises from within a user’s Checkpoint subscription, providing easy access to multiple opinions and perspectives on a given topic. Checkpoint Catalyst has already led to improved efficiency, productivity or profitability, as noted by these professionals:

Elijah Farrell, International Tax Director, NIKE, Inc.: “Checkpoint Catalyst should be a tool in every tax professional’s research toolkit and, more often than not, the starting place for their research. I can find information faster, so I’m spending a lot less time looking for relevant content and a lot more time reading the material.”

Dave Springsteen, Senior Partner in Charge of Tax Services at WithumSmith+Brown: “Catalyst is really a true catalyst in providing solutions to our clients. It brings all current matters to the forefront, it will bring in state and local issues when needed, it will bring in documents that we can review, it can also give practical examples from the editors…” “It gives us comfort that we’re giving the right advice, it gives us comfort that we’re adding value to our clients’ questions. Catalyst is a must-have in any practice because you have experienced researchers and you have unexperienced (sic) researchers. And a lot of research goes down to the lower staff, and if we can make their jobs easier, like Catalyst will do, then we can get a quicker solution and a more valuable add to our clients.”

Click here to see all of the other nominees for the 2015 Innovation Awards.