Ethical Implications of Transparency and Explainability of Artificial Intelligence for Managing Value-Added Tax (VAT) in Corporations

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in managing Value Added Tax (VAT) in corporations raises ethical concerns, particularly regarding the transparency and explainability of AI systems. This study proposes a qualitative research design to explore these ethical implications and the main challenges in understanding and implementing such solutions. The research involves a comprehensive literature review on AI in VAT management, transparency, explainability of AI systems, and ethical considerations related to AI in the tax domain. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with tax professionals in corporates, AI experts, tax advisors, and governmental tax experts. Thematic analysis will be used to identify common themes and patterns. Based on the findings, a comprehensive understanding of the different perspectives of the stakeholders is demonstrated based on 10 research questions, which were used as interview protocols with 12 tax experts. This research aims at contributing to the literature on tax technology and AI in VAT management in particular. It also provides a holistic overview of the AI-powered solutions for automating VAT in multinationals and the stakeholders’ perspective and level of trust.