Meet the Experts
Global tax functions are at an inflection point. Between February and June 2026, SAPinsider surveyed its community of tax and finance professionals — including technology, finance, tax, and C-level leaders — to understand how they are navigating the most complex compliance environment in a generation. The findings are clear: AI adoption (42%), e-invoicing and real-time reporting mandates (35%), and regulatory and tariff volatility are reshaping the 2026–2028 tax agenda faster than most organizations can absorb with their current tools and architectures. Tax leaders know the operating models of the last decade won’t be adequate for the next one, and they are responding by prioritizing automation, standardization, and data governance before chasing the next wave of AI.
But the most actionable finding in this report is the expectations gap — the striking distance between what tax automation and AI were expected to deliver and what has actually been realized. While 43% of organizations expected automation to deliver faster close and reporting cycles, just 6% achieved it; 36% expected better visibility into tax positions, yet only 11% saw it. This report diagnoses why the gap exists, where SAP-centric architectures are winning, and what separates the organizations realizing outcomes from those simply accumulating tools. Download the full benchmark to compare your strategy against your peers and build the foundation that closes the gap.
What you’ll learn:
– The seven forces shaping the 2026–2028 tax agenda — and why AI adoption now outranks any single regulation
– Where the expectations gap is widest across close cycles, audit response, visibility, and accuracy
– The strategic priorities tax leaders are funding first: automation, process standardization, and master data remediation
– Which SAP solutions and third-party tax engines (Vertex, ONESOURCE, Sovos, Edicom) are in scope for the next 24 months
– The real state of AI in tax — high evaluation rates, low production deployment, and where the fast-follow use cases are
– The performance metrics that actually win budget: on-time filing, accuracy, and audit defensibility — not headcount reduction
– How leading teams treat tax transformation as an operating-model change, not a technology purchase
