AI in Tax Administration: Opportunities, Evidence, and Safeguards

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advanced data analytics are increasingly shaping how tax authorities operate worldwide. Tax authorities are deploying AI-enabled tools to support risk profiling, audit selection, compliance management, and service delivery, and for lower income countries, including across Africa, these tools offer potential gains at a time of heightened fiscal pressure and growing data availability. At the same time, the adoption of AI in tax administration raises significant economic, legal, and governance challenges. Concerns around transparency, bias, explainability, legal oversight, and institutional capacity are particularly acute in contexts where regulatory frameworks and administrative safeguards are still evolving. Against this backdrop, this webinar convenes perspectives from international development practice, public finance research, and legal scholarship, with a specific focus on what AI adoption means for African tax administrations.

The webinar aims to: 

• Examine how AI is currently being used or considered for use in tax administration.
• Share very preliminary empirical evidence from African country contexts.
• Explore the legal and governance safeguards required for responsible AI deployment.
• Support policymakers, administrators, and development partners in making informed decisions on AI adoption in tax systems.

This webinar is the fifth instalment of the joint World Bank–ICTD webinar series on Digitalisation and Tax, a global platform that brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to explore how digitalisation is reshaping the future of taxation. 

You can find further details along with the registration link.