Key takeaways:

• • • Country-by-country reporting will only increase in complexity 鈥� Australia’s enhanced Country-by-country reporting (CbCR) requirements 鈥� reconciling taxes accrued against taxes credited 鈥� are a preview of where other high-scrutiny jurisdictions are heading, and companies need to build that explanatory analysis capability now, systematically, rather than scrambling later.

    • There has to be a shared narrative from corporate teams 鈥� The EU鈥檚 public CbCR is a reputational event, not just a filing. So that means tax, communications, and investor relations teams need a shared narrative before the data goes public 鈥� inconsistencies create exposure you do not want to manage reactively.

    • Rethink your filing jurisdiction in light of changes 鈥� If EU filing jurisdiction was chosen at initial implementation and never revisited, look again. Guidance has matured, and a more efficient or better-suited option may now be available.

WASHINGTON, DC 鈥� Among the many pressing topics discussed in detail at the recent , country-by-country reporting (CbCR) and its ability to reshape the corporate tax industry, certainly had its place. Between escalating local jurisdiction requirements, the , and for deeper explanatory disclosures, CbCR has quietly evolved from a transfer pricing filing obligation into something far more strategically consequential.

The floor is just the floor

The creation of the by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was intended as a minimum standard for countries. And now jurisdictions are increasingly layering additional requirements on top of the OECD鈥檚 basic template, resulting in a widening gap between the standard requirements and what tax authorities actually want.

Currently, Australia is the most pointed example. Australian tax authorities are now requiring multinational groups to go beyond the standard CbCR data fields and provide explanatory narratives that reconcile taxes accrued against taxes actually credited. This requires corporate tax departments to bridge the gap between financial statement accruals and their organizations鈥� cash tax positions in a way that is coherent, defensible, and consistent with positions taken elsewhere.

At the TEI event, panelists explained that for tax departments this will carry complex timing differences, deferred tax positions, or significant jurisdictional mismatches between booked and cash taxes. Indeed, this additional layer of scrutiny will need dedicated attention.

Please add your voice to 成人VR视频鈥� flagship , a global study exploring how the professional landscape continues to change.听

The broader signal matters: Australia will not be the last jurisdiction to move in this direction. So that means that tax departments should treat Australia’s approach as a leading indicator of where other high-scrutiny jurisdictions could be heading. Building the capability to produce this kind of explanatory analysis systematically 鈥� rather than scrambling jurisdiction by jurisdiction 鈥� would be the smarter long-term investment for corporate tax teams.

Public CbCR in the EU: The transparency ratchet has turned

For US-based multinationals with significant European operations, the EU’s public CbCR directive has fundamentally changed the calculus. Unlike the confidential tax authority filings most corporate tax departments are accustomed to, the EU鈥檚 public CbCR rules put organizations鈥� jurisdictional profit and tax data into the public domain, making it visible to investors, journalists, civil society groups, and organizations鈥� employees and customers.

The EU framework specifies which entities trigger the reporting obligation and which entity within the group is responsible for making the public filing. That scoping analysis is not always straightforward for complex multinational structures and getting it wrong could present both reputational and legal risk.

Choosing a filing jurisdiction is not purely an administrative decision 鈥� it is a choice that affects the regulatory environment that governs the disclosure, the language requirements, the timing, and the interpretive framework that applies to data.

For US-headquartered groups, the implications extend well beyond Europe. Public CbCR data is now being read alongside US disclosures, reporting on ESG activities, and public narratives about tax governance. Inconsistencies, including those technically explainable, could create unwanted noise about the company. This is clearly another reason why the tax function should partner across the business 鈥� in this case with the communications team 鈥� to make they both are aligned to tell the CbCR story instead of being caught off guard by a journalist or an investor during an earnings call.

Questions that US multinationals should be asking

Fortunately, US multinationals with multiple EU subsidiaries are not required to file public CbCR reports in every EU member state in which they have a presence. Instead, under the EU framework, a qualifying ultimate parent or standalone undertaking can satisfy the public disclosure requirement through a single filing in one EU member state, provided the relevant conditions are met. Germany and the Netherlands have emerged as two of the more popular choices for this consolidated filing approach, given their well-developed regulatory frameworks and the depth of available guidance on what compliant disclosure looks like in practice.

The strategic implication is meaningful. Choosing a filing jurisdiction is not purely an administrative decision 鈥� it is a choice that affects the regulatory environment that governs the disclosure, the language requirements, the timing, and the interpretive framework that applies to data. Corporate tax departments that defaulted to a filing jurisdiction early in the EU implementation process should take a fresh look. Regulatory guidance has matured significantly, and there may be a more efficient or better-suited path available than the one originally chosen.

The uncomfortable divergence

There is a notable irony in the current environment. Domestically, the IRS and U.S. Treasury’s 2025-2026 Priority Guidance Plan reflects an explicit focus on deregulation and burden reduction, detailing dozens of projects aimed at reducing compliance costs for US businesses. Meanwhile, the international compliance environment has moved in the opposite direction, adding disclosure layers, explanatory requirements, and public transparency obligations that many US businesses cannot avoid simply because they are headquartered in the United States.

This divergence has a direct implication for how tax departments allocate resources and make the internal case for investment in international compliance infrastructure. The burden internationally is not going down 鈥� indeed, it is intensifying 鈥� and that argument is now backed by concrete examples rather than projections.

3 things worth doing now

There are several actions that corporate tax teams should consider, including:

Audit CbCR data quality with Australia’s enhanced requirements in mind 鈥� If you cannot readily reconcile taxes accrued to taxes credited at the jurisdictional level, that gap needs to be closed before it becomes an authority inquiry.

Revisit EU filing jurisdiction strategy 鈥� If your jurisdictional decision was made at the time of initial implementation and has not been reviewed since, it is worth a fresh look before the next reporting cycle.

Develop an internal narrative around public CbCR data before it circulates externally 鈥� Your company鈥檚 tax story should not be a surprise to the corporate teams involved in communications, investor relations, or ESG 鈥� and in today鈥檚 world, assuming such news stays quiet is no longer a safe assumption.

While CbCR started as a tool for tax authorities, it today has become something more visible, more public, and more consequential than that 鈥� and that trajectory is not reversing any time soon.

You can download a full copy of the 成人VR视频 Institute鈥檚

Key insights:

• • • Possibilities vs. practicality 鈥� There is a growing frustration gap between what corporate tax professionals want to achieve and what their current technological tools will allow.

    • Expectations about AI 鈥� Tax professionals have significantly accelerated the timeframe in which they expect AI to become a central part of their workflow.

    • Proactive progress 鈥� Automation is enabling a gradual shift toward more strategic, proactive tax work, although not as quickly as many tax professionals would like.

The recently released , from the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute, reveals that while automation of routine tax functions is indeed enabling a long-desired shift toward more strategic, proactive tax work in some corporate tax departments, a majority of tax leaders surveyed say upgrading their department鈥檚 tax technology is still a relatively low priority at their company.

Jump to 鈫�

2026 Corporate Tax Department Technology Report

The report surveyed 170 tax leaders from companies of all sizes to find out how corporate tax professionals are using technology, overcoming obstacles, and planning for the future.

A growing 鈥渇rustration gap鈥�

In general, the report found that while many companies (especially larger ones) are actively upgrading their tax department鈥檚 technological capabilities, there is a growing frustration gap between what tax professionals know they can accomplish with more robust technologies and what their current tools allow them to do.

Adding to this frustration is a growing discrepancy between the additional budget and resources tax departments hope to get each year and the harsher reality they often face. Indeed, even though tax leaders remain optimistic that their budgets and capabilities will expand and improve in the coming years, fewer than half of the respondents surveyed said their departments received a budget increase last year, and many saw budget cuts.

Further, the report shows that the prospect of incorporating ever more sophisticated forms of AI and AI-driven tools into tax workflows is also very much on the minds of tax professionals. Even though the actual usage of AI in corporate tax departments is still relatively low, the report reveals that tax professionals now expect AI become a central part of their workflow within one to two years, much faster than they did in last year鈥檚 report.

Indeed, as the report explains, this expectation of more imminent AI adoption represents a significant shift in attitude, because most corporate tax departments are rather circumspect about how, when, and why they incorporate new tech tools into their established routines.

If today鈥檚 technological capabilities continue to accelerate, companies that have been slow to invest in the infrastructure necessary to keep pace may soon find themselves struggling to catch up with their more tech-savvy counterparts, the report warns.

Moving toward more proactive work, albeit slowly

For companies that have invested in the technological infrastructure necessary to support advanced tax technologies, the payoff is becoming increasingly evident.

According to the report, about two-thirds (67%) of tax professionals surveyed said their company鈥檚 investment in technology had enabled a shift toward more proactive tax work within their departments. This shift is particularly noticeable at large corporations, at which, unsurprisingly, investment in tax technology has been more generous.

The 2026 Corporate Tax Department Technology Report also explores other aspects of corporate tax departments, including their hiring practices, tech training, purchasing strategies, what they see as the most popular tech tools for tax, and numerous other factors that affect how tax departments operate.

You can download

a full copy of the 成人VR视频 Institute’s here

Key takeaways:

• • • Automation is a top priority, but progress is slow 鈥� While automation ranks highly among corporate tax leaders’ priorities, leaders from a majority of tax departments still view their automation efforts as reactive or chaotic rather than optimized or predictive.

    • Resource constraints limit automation efforts 鈥� More than half of respondents say their tax departments feel under-resourced, and those departments with limited resources are much more likely to struggle with implementing effective automation strategies.

    • Departments need to invest to see automation returns 鈥� Most tax departments attempt to tackle automation internally, often relying on hybrid roles rather than dedicated technology professionals, which can further strain already limited resources and hinder progress.

The corporate tax world wishes to automate. This likely isn鈥檛 a surprise, given the increasingly complex and ever-changing nature of tax laws and regulations, particularly over the past year. In fact, according to the recently published 2025 State of the Corporate Tax Department report from the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute, 10% of corporate tax leaders named process automation as their single top priority for the next 18 months, and about one-quarter of them have it as a Top 3 priority. That trails only tax compliance, planning & strategy, and new tax legislation among trends that are top of mind among corporate tax leaders today.

This heightened level of importance for automation may be a reflection of where tax departments view their efforts currently. The same report reveals that more than two-thirds of survey respondents view the levels of automation within their tax departments as reactive or chaotic, while very few are taking an optimized or predictive posture. Clearly, there is work to be done in order to extract the most from workflow tools, or even next-generation technologies such as .

This begs the question, however: Even if corporate tax leaders are trying to automate, how are they going to go about actually doing so? As with many initiatives in the business world, it may be easier said than done.

Corporate tax departments have long been asked to do more with less, and many are feeling the effects of limited resources for daily tax work, let alone new technology investment and implementation. At the same time, however, research reveals that many of these same departments are looking to tackle automation initiatives on their own, eschewing outside aid from service providers or other third parties.

Clearly, something has to give in order to automate the department. Either corporate tax departments need to find resources to dedicate to true automation, or they need to figure out how to better work with outside providers to make automation occur. Because as it stands now, many departments risk being stuck in a state of stasis, never being able to truly bring their automation beyond a reactive posture.

Automation issues

Process automation can provide a major boon to corporate tax departments, if it is implemented correctly. Actions such as integrating and centralizing data through an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, breaking down silos to facilitate cross-departmental coordination and communication, and implementing cutting-edge technologies such as AI can help tax professionals gain greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency.

However, it鈥檚 clear that many tax professionals do not believe their organizations are automating in a way that allows for more proactive technology usage. In fact, 68% say they view their organization鈥檚 technology and automation usage as chaotic or reactive 鈥� only slightly better than in last year鈥檚 report.

This skeptical view towards their tax department鈥檚 technology posture also is not unique to any particular size or geographic location of their company. More than 60% of respondents from companies with less than $50 million in annual revenue took a negative view towards the state of automation; yet the same holds true for respondents from companies with more than $5 billion in annual revenue. And while global respondents were slightly more bullish on automation than their counterparts in the United States, the need for more automation is clearly a global goal.

Some interesting differences occur, however, when cross-tabulating opinions of automation with whether a respondent feels their department is adequately resourced. In total, 58% of respondents say they feel their department is under-resourced (an increase of 7 percentage points from last year), while just 38% say they feel their department is resourced about right, with the remainder unsure.

To be sure, there is some technology consternation even among those that say they feel their organization is adequately resourced. More than half (55%) of that group say they feel 听their automation posture was either reactive or chaotic, displaying that adequate resources are not a panacea to technology woes.

A lack of resources, however, can certainly seem to exacerbate the problem. Among respondents who say they feel their department is under-resourced, 77% called their automation posture chaotic or reactive, 22 percentage points higher than did respondents at adequately resourced departments. Just 4% of this under-resourced group felt their automation was either optimized or predictive, compared to 10% of the adequately resourced group.

Automation plans into action

One might expect that corporate tax departments would be looking for outside help 鈥� either from the rest of the business or from third parties 鈥� particularly given the effect of resource constraints on technology efforts. After all, automation is just one priority among a number of complex areas within the tax department, and it鈥檚 also not an area that many tax professionals may be naturally equipped to tackle.

However, when asked about their primary strategies for tackling automation internally, many tax departments are still mainly looking in-house. Some are working with their company鈥檚 IT or senior leadership, while fewer are working with outside vendors or consultants. Among companies of all sizes, however, the primary way most are tackling automation is through a team within the tax department itself.

Tax departments within larger companies do tend to have more resources, both monetary and in personnel, and thus have more capability to tackle tax automation in-house. Even at smaller companies, however, most are attempting to stretch resources internally rather than setting aside budget for external help.

Often, this means training existing staff on technology, given that few tax departments have technologists directly on staff. In a separate report from the 成人VR视频 Institute and the Tax Executives Institute released earlier this year, the , our research found that just 15% of survey respondents say their tax departments have a technology-specific professional within the department, while 28% say they have technology personnel shared with another department such as finance. However, the most common way of staffing technology matters is through hybrid roles, the report shows, with more than half (52%) of departments primarily staffing their technology initiatives through hybrid personnel that hold both tax and technology job functions.

Again, this begs the question: How big of a priority is automation truly for today鈥檚 tax departments? Department leadership claims that it is one of their top priorities moving forward, but tax professionals still see a reactive or chaotic posture towards automation in their own work. Further, attempts to change this dynamic are largely internal, often being left to personnel with dual tax/technology roles who may be already feeling the pressure of being under-resourced and having to do more with less.

Ultimately, automation should be a top-level strategy decision for tax departments, not something simply alluded to with lip service. Is automating the department鈥檚 work processes actually a priority? Would automation provide positive returns, making it worth the investment? What mix of personnel would actually lead to success, rather than to what is expedient?

If automation is truly a priority, corporate tax leaders need to dedicate actually impactful resources to technology projects, above and beyond stretching internal tax professionals further. Otherwise, today鈥檚 tax departments risk never moving beyond a reactive technology posture.

You can download a full copy of the 2025 State of the Corporate Tax Department report, published by the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute, here

Plan for change

Before any decisions are made, however, corporate leaders need to understand that merely purchasing the latest technology does not guarantee success. That鈥檚 because in the context of a corporation, technological change also means cultural change. Introducing a new technological ecosystem means changing how people work, what roles they play, the skills they need, the procedures they follow, and many other variables, including those involving budget allocations and personnel shifts. Additional challenges also come from structural inertia, competing priorities, and cultural resistance to change.

Failing to plan for this inevitable turbulence all but ensures that a company鈥檚 technological investment will be squandered, and that the expected boost in productivity and performance will not materialize. Leaders and managers need to shift their thinking under these circumstances 鈥� before any new technological solution is purchases and pursued 鈥� because the speed at which technology is advancing today requires a more aggressively proactive approach to management. No one can afford to be passive anymore 鈥� the consequences of stasis are simply too dire.

The goal of moving toward a proactive approach

That said, technology transitions are the perfect time to realign a tax department鈥檚 strategies and goals with the vision of the larger organization, and to initiate cultural and procedural changes that will serve everyone better in the long run. Managed well, these changes can also help tax departments re-position themselves within the organization and help assert the tax function as one that can deliver higher levels of value and leadership.

If your organization is still struggling to evolve technologically, however, don鈥檛 panic. Few corporate tax departments have truly mastered their technological universe. In fact, according to the recently released听2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report听from the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute, more than half of corporate tax professionals still describe their department鈥檚 relationship with technology as 鈥渃haotic鈥� or 鈥渞eactive,鈥� whereas roughly one-third (35%) said they thought their departments had reached the 鈥減roactive鈥� stage of the technology maturity curve, in which the investment in planning, training, and technology really starts to pay off.

In other words, it is not too late to nudge the needle toward proactive, no matter where a company is on its technological journey. Indeed, most companies are in between phases, trying to get the most out of the technology they already have while simultaneously planning for 鈥� or actively upgrading to 鈥� new technologies.

Vital steps for a smooth transition

In general, however, corporate tax departments should take the following steps to incorporate new technologies in ways that advance departmental goals and establish a proactive approach to tax management and compliance. These ways include:

Developing a strategic technology plan 鈥� Piecemeal, ad hoc solutions (reactive by nature) will only guarantee frustration and failure. To get on the right track, tax department leaders should develop a strategic plan for how the new technology will be used and why. The overall goal of such a plan should be to articulate precisely how the new technology will serve the department and the organization. Some questions to consider are:

• • • How will the technology help align the department鈥檚 goals with the company鈥檚 goals?
    • What tasks should be automated 鈥� and which ones shouldn鈥檛?
    • What additional skills will employees need to use the technology effectively?
    • How will the technology create process efficiencies and improve compliance?
    • What additional capabilities will the technology give the department?
    • How will those new capabilities be utilized or leveraged?

Creating a technology roadmap 鈥� Once a strategy has been developed, it鈥檚 essential to create a technology roadmap 鈥� a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of the implementation process that explains how the project will unfold, the timeline, and what to expect along the way. Take into consideration that tech transitions don鈥檛 happen instantly; they take time, so thoroughness is a virtue here.

Placing someone in charge 鈥� According to our Corporate Tax Technology report, only about half of all companies have an individual in place who is formally empowered to guide the overall tech strategy for their tax department. Don鈥檛 make that mistake, because leadership is essential for any tech transition. Ideally, the person in charge, whatever their title, should have both tech experience and deep knowledge of the company鈥檚 larger operations. Experience and training in change management is also a plus, because tech transitions aren鈥檛 just about the technology. Indeed, those who neglect to address the impact that technological change is going to have on the workforce are missing half the picture.

Communicating early and often 鈥� It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to keep open lines of communication with tax teams and the larger network of stakeholders throughout the organization who may be affected by a new technological ecosystem. Within the tax department, it鈥檚 important to articulate a vision of the future, one that explains how job roles are likely to change, how the department鈥檚 processes and workflows will be affected, what performance expectations will look like after the transition, and how the department will adapt to better serve the needs of the larger organization.

Training for the technological future 鈥� While most large companies (those with more than $1 billion in annual revenue) have technology training programs, smaller companies tend to struggle in this area. However, technology training isn鈥檛 just about teaching people to use software tools effectively, it鈥檚 also about continuously upgrading people鈥檚 skills so that they can make more productive use of these tools going forward. Training, in other words, is the best way to ensure that the organization gets the most out of its technology investment.

Launching pilot projects 鈥� Communication and training provide a solid theoretical foundation for technology usage, but nothing beats hands-on experience. A great way to ease into the future is to develop pilot projects that allow people to apply new tech tools and discover for themselves what fresh capabilities they have at their fingertips. Pilot projects can also help troubleshoot departmental operations that may be impacted by the technology and give team members the opportunity to brainstorm potential solutions.

Toward a more proactive approach to tax

At the top of the corporate food chain, investing in a new technological ecosystem is about improving productivity and profits. At the departmental level, however, the above preparations lay the groundwork for a much more dynamic tax function that leverages new technology to potentially redefine its role within the organization.

Once the technology is in place, tax professionals are essentially entering a brave new world 鈥� one in which it is possible to guarantee compliance, mitigate almost all risk, and drastically reduce the chance of damaging audits and penalties. A much larger universe of tax data also gives departments the power to analyze supply-chain risks and inefficiencies, develop new tax strategies, and scout the horizon for new opportunities to save money and create value for the business.

These are just a few of the benefits of a more proactive approach to tax management, but only those tax department leaders who plan and prepare properly will be positioned to get the most out of the tech-driven future of corporate tax management.

You can download a copy of the recently released听2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report听from the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute here

With this in mind, it鈥檚 no surprise that many corporate tax professionals believe their departments are behind the curve of technological innovation. The recently released 2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report from the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute finds that more than half (57%) of corporate tax professionals rate their department鈥檚 technology maturity as chaotic or reactive. Just 6%, meanwhile, call their department鈥檚 tech position optimized or predictive.

So, with few resources to devote to technology, how are today鈥檚 tax departments looking to keep up with innovation? The answer comes with dual tax/technology roles 鈥� and it鈥檚 a skill set that tax professionals may need to adopt sooner rather than later.

The tax technologist

According to the 2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report, tax departments are undertaking a wide variety of strategies around hiring technology resources. Some (17%) survey respondents said their departments are outsourcing technology services entirely, while slightly fewer (15%) reported their departments had hired technology consultants within the past year.

But far and away, the most common strategy for tax departments is to try and tackle innovation through in-house resources. 鈥淚t is going to become more and more necessary, as new laws and initiatives role out (ex: Pillar 2),鈥� said one survey respondent. 鈥淏usinesses may not want to spend on new technology but will need to if they don’t want to outsource the work. I believe if the department has the capability to do the work in-house, getting functioning software is the best option, instead of outsourcing it completely.鈥�

In practice, that has meant having personnel with dual roles 鈥� those who conduct tax work but are also in charge of innovation.

The preponderance of these sorts of roles is not particularly surprising. Given the resource limitations at many corporate tax departments 鈥� and especially smaller departments 鈥� it is still rare to see dedicated IT job functions solely within the tax department. Given the unique nature of tax work, however, less than one-third (28%) of respondents said their department primarily relies on shared IT job functions for technology personnel resourcing.

Today鈥檚 tax department wants somebody who can do both. Sometimes, that means finding a tax professional who is drawn to the technology, then empowering them to lead innovation. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to be part of transforming tax department functions,鈥� said one respondent to the report. 鈥淚 started by learning processes and improving them over time with technology, and now I lead a team with a focus on how we can use technology to be more efficient and re-use data in multiple processes.鈥�

Increasingly, however, many tax departments are taking the opposite approach: hiring a technologist and teaching them tax rules. In fact, of respondents who said their department had hired a technology professional solely for the tax department, 57% said the hire had come with a primarily technology background, 24% came from a tax background, and the remaining 19% were from another background or unknown.

For these departments, the goal is to be able to teach a technologist what can be automated, and what should stay the purview of the tax professional. 鈥淭echnology will transform the tax department,鈥� said one respondent. 鈥淭here will be a bigger shift to all staff being even more analytical compared to their abilities now. The technology will do all the nonanalytical work.鈥�

The future of tax/tech jobs

The fact that more than half of tax departments now rely on dual tax/technology roles may be a surprise to those used to a more reserved department posture 鈥� but corporate tax professionals say they believe this may only be the beginning.

In line with current resourcing trends, fewer than half of all respondents said they believe their departments will have new job roles due to technology within the next 3 to 5 years. Notably, however, the total that do expect new job roles has risen seven percentage points in the past year alone 鈥� to 39% in 2025 from 32% in 2024.

Even greater is the proportion who said they believe technology will change current job roles within the next 3 to 5 years, which now stands at more than half of respondents (55%), compared to just 41% who said they anticipated role changes in 2024.

Already, some departments are hoping that infusing technology into tax work will help close the resource gap. One survey respondent said they were 鈥渉opeful that it will bring efficiency and better ROI [return on investment]. It is difficult to find good employees in accounting and tax, and leveraging AI and tech will bridge that gap.鈥�

For tax professionals themselves, however, there is also a lesson: The time to begin acquiring technology skills is now. Especially with so many tax department leaders moving towards dual tax/tech roles 鈥� and with more likely on the way 鈥� training on technology can be a surefire way to make a resume more attractive. Those who become fluent in new technologies such as generative AI (GenAI) will automatically stand out in a market desperate for tax workers already, let alone those who can conduct work more efficiently and skillfully.

And those who don鈥檛 adapt to this new tax technology paradigm may slowly start to be left behind. 鈥淎 lot of our lower-level positions will be replaced by technology,鈥� one survey respondent said. 鈥淭he people holding those positions seem to be ignoring that reality. It will pose significant challenges in developing talent to fill senior positions.鈥�

You can download a full copy of the 2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report here

Jump to 鈫�

2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report

However, there are indications that this is beginning to shift 鈥� albeit carefully. The 2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report, the second annual report published jointly by the 成人VR视频 Institute and Tax Executives Institute, finds corporate tax departments beginning to fix structural technology issues, with long-term goals of increasing both the pace of technology adoption and the building of both personnel and processes infrastructure in order to make it more functional.

The report, based on a survey of corporate tax department leaders, shows that tax departments鈥� technology budgets are set to grow year-over-year, and survey respondents said they anticipate even more growth over the next 3 to 5 years. The same applies to technology personnel resourcing, as more respondents said their departments were hiring technology specialists and expecting job roles to change to better accommodate technology in coming years. Respondents said they also feel more positively about their colleagues鈥� tech competency and their department鈥檚 alignment with their larger businesses鈥� technology strategy.

And while few tax departments are currently adopting generative AI (GenAI), a vast majority said they believe it will be a central part of their workflows within the next five years. This indicates a willingness to change and adapt 鈥� a culture shift from the tax department of the past.

Key findings

Some key findings in the report include:

Positive outlook 鈥� On the whole, corporate tax professionals said they are positive about the impact tax technology has on their work and careers. A vast majority (94%) said they feel hopeful or excited about the future of tax technology, while just 2% said they are fearful or concerned.

Stratified but growing spend 鈥� Technology spend remains highly dependent on the size of the company and its tax department, with companies with $1 billion or more in yearly revenue averaging more than four-times the technology spend of smaller companies. Yet 74% of all respondents say they expect their department鈥檚 tech budget to increase in the next 3 to 5 years.

Changing job roles expected 鈥� More than one-third (39%) of respondents said they anticipate new job roles emerging as a result of technology (a 7-percentage point increase compared to 2024), and 55% said they anticipate job role changes as a result of technology (a 14-percentage point increase).

Exploring wider GenAI rollout 鈥� Not surprisingly, 43% of respondents said they have used AI for their own personal work in some form, but just 6% call their wider departments active users of the technology. Still, 88% said they believe AI will be a central part of their workflow within the next five years.

That is not to say that tax departments鈥� technology use has fully caught up to their business counterparts. Indeed, more than half of respondents still categorized their department as having a chaotic or reactive technology posture, indicating there is still room to be more proactive about both technology applications and strategy.

However, this increased focus has led many corporate tax professionals to feel optimistic about the future of tax technology, believing it can help aid some of the personnel crunch and regulatory onslaught felt across the industry.

鈥淲e are thinking of tax technology every day,鈥� said one tax specialist interviewed for the report. 鈥淭he shifting landscape is something that worries us, especially with regards to falling behind. We are interested in learning as much as we can about the technology tools that are becoming available and which ones will be the most important to focus on. It makes us nervous, but also excited.鈥�

You can download

a full copy of the 成人VR视频 Institute “2025 Corporate Tax Technology Report” by filling out the form below: