Enhancing Responsible Tax Practices

Background 

A growing number of companies are strengthening their tax governance in response to transparency reforms and rising expectations from investors, authorities and the public — moving towards what is increasingly termed responsible tax. For ATI members, this shift matters: voluntary responsible tax practices can broaden and stabilise the corporate income tax base that many partner countries depend on, complementing enforcement and supporting the financing of the SDGs. This connects directly to Action 1 of the Seville Declaration on DRM, on fair, efficient and transparent tax systems and a sound business environment, and to Action 4, which recognises the private sector as a DRM accountability stakeholder that helps strengthen the broader social contract.

Under the World Bank Group's Policy on the Use of Intermediate Jurisdictions in private sector operations, International Finance Corporation (IFC) encourages its clients to adopt responsible tax practices and has partnered with The B Team, a non-profit of business and civil society leaders behind the Responsible Tax Principles. Together they launched the Enhancing Responsible Tax Practices Program in 2025, a first-of-its-kind initiative guiding IFC clients in embedding responsible tax into their governance and operations. Endorsing the Principles functions as a public commitment and social contract between a company and its stakeholders around transparent tax behaviour. The B Team and IFC concluded the programme's Africa pilot in April 2026 and will now share learnings during this webinar. It therefore offers ATI members a first-hand account of the experience and a chance to identify where the approach could be applied next, in their own contexts and beyond Africa. 

Objectives 

• Share information and outcomes from the pilot Enhancing Responsible Tax Practices Program
• Examine the role of voluntary, business-led responsible tax practices in strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation in partner countries. 
• Identify opportunities for dialogue between the private sector, development partners and ATI partner countries on how responsible tax practices intersect with revenue administration, transparency and the broader social contract. 

Agenda

Expected outcomes

A short summary of the main discussions of the session will be published on the ATI website. Documentation such as the presentation will be shared with ATI members. Following the event, the ATI would encourage continued engagement in this area, including exploring with The B Team how responsible tax practices could be taken up by interested partner countries and applied beyond the initial focus on Africa, as well as potential bilateral follow-up among its members.