Tax Will Command More CFO Attention in 2026
It’s refreshing to see “tax” mentioned frequently, and in such varied ways, throughout Deloitte’s report on 2026 finance trends.
CFOs and other finance leaders identify tax regulations as one of their top risk concerns. They also highlight indirect tax as being primed for AI enablement. When asked to identify areas where AI agents “could have the most positive impact,” indirect tax was a top five response – just behind financial planning and analysis, sales and profitability management, working capital optimization, and expense management. The report also points out that “AI can be especially helpful in the realm of tax,” particularly in identifying ways to improve transfer-pricing documentation.
The five overarching finance trends that Deloitte details relate to advanced scenario planning, the CFO’s role as a strategic leader, cost management, AI adoption, and talent management. Each of these trends has implications for tax groups.
Tax Scenarios, Cloud Migrations, and Insourcing
As finance groups increase both the frequency and sophistication of their scenario‑planning capabilities to address external uncertainties, they also need support in modeling the impacts of supply‑chain redesigns and growth initiatives. These initiatives may expose the company to e‑invoicing requirements, digital‑services taxes, and other tax‑compliance burdens. More finance groups now perform weekly, or even daily, analyses of market conditions, regulatory trends, and other wildcards – and tax groups should be prepared to contribute insights to these evaluations.
The report finds that nearly six in 10 finance executives play a leading role in shaping organizational strategy. It turns out that these strategic finance leaders are far more likely to deploy cloud-based technology systems to optimize costs compared to CFOs with less strategic influence. Indirect tax leaders should take note of this correlation: leveraging cloud-based tax technology stacks to manage the end-to-end tax compliance lifecycle with greater scalability and flexibility may help them expand their contributions to M&A due diligence, growth initiatives, and other strategic decisions.
When it comes to talent management, CFOs (like tax leaders) are eager to infuse their teams with technology skills. Hiring and developing finance professionals with expertise in AI and advanced automation, data analytics, and technology integration represents a top CFO priority. To gain access to these skill sets, finance leaders are providing specialized training to upskill existing staff, considering candidates from nontraditional backgrounds, and “insourcing” talent from other departments. Tax leaders should consider similar approaches to hiring and developing tax technologists (though maybe not by “insourcing” from the finance group).
Finally, as CFOs move ahead with AI investments for the finance function and the organization as a whole, tax leaders should be prepared to make a compelling case for AI-enabled tax solutions.
Tax executives should also be prepared to find themselves under the CFO’s microscope more frequently this year. While that may feel a bit daunting at times, the additional scrutiny may yield more opportunities to upgrade tax technology and tax talent.
