Deirdre Barnicle, Partner, McCann FitzGerald: As the pace of technology continues to accelerate, 2025 opened up new possibilities for improving the efficiency of tax practitioners and the Revenue Commissioners alike; the eWHT proposal (discussed above) is one of many instances where tax technology can help to increase compliance.

The possibility of employing ‘agentic AI’ was discussed for the first time in 2025 i.e. using an advanced form of AI focused on autonomous decision-making and action. Some have suggested that this form of technology could be particularly helpful in European jurisdictions where near-real-time tax processing is becoming the norm.

Much like other professional areas, AI can assist tax teams in basic tasks such as drafting emails, summarising information and carrying out initial research. However, as many of the professional resources we rely upon to inform our tax practice are behind paywalls and being cognisant of the fact that AI can regularly pull information from publicly available resources from other jurisdictions, it can be of limited use in particular tasks and always requires careful review on the part of practitioners.

One area of tax practice where AI has the potential to bring significant efficiencies is that of data entry in tax compliance work. For example, when reviewing invoices for tax returns, what can be a time consuming and tedious exercise could be transformed by the correct AI tool. Employing AI in this area would also reduce the risk of human error. Again, tax practitioners must remain vigilant and cautious when engaging AI to assist them in their work, because a tool developed without the appropriate safeguards risks the exposure of sensitive client data; client confidentiality must always remain paramount.

On this topic, it is likely that new roles will be created in tax practices to manage these technologies e.g. tax AI-specialists. Proper training to current tax practitioners will also be required.

Paraic Burke, Head of Tax, PwC Ireland: In 2025, AI adoption is shifting from pilots to scaled production. Investment and performance have improved, and clearer regulation gives organisations confidence to embed AI. Surveys show productivity gains; cost savings lag where data and integration are weak. Ad hoc experiments rarely scale and durable impact comes from strong data, platform integration and robust governance.

The digitisation of tax compliance is becoming more standard as electronic mandates and AI redefine obligations. E-filing, APIs and Europe’s move to near real-time VAT and eInvoicing set the pace, while the first full year of Pillar Two raises the bar for data, controls and disclosure. Enterprise AI is now regulated, and production grade is compressing timelines and lifting expectations for accuracy, auditability and agility.

Leading groups are scaling where it matters. For Pillar Two, they’re transitioning to end-to-end GloBE calculations with transparent data lineage, automated classification of book–tax differences, and anomaly detection before period close. From an indirect tax viewpoint, AI embedded in determination validates invoices, infers appropriate VAT treatments from contracts and purchase orders, and flags misclassifications up front, boosting First Time Right processes and reduces remediation.        

The direction of travel is simple: standardise data, codify rules, automate the routine and focus humans on judgement. That shifts tax from constraint to an enabler, meeting new obligations at speed while informing deals, supply chains and operating models.

Compliance copilots are now more mainstream in tax return preparation and provision technology platforms. Using secure retrieval from libraries of guidance and law, they can draft workpapers, explain calculations and link to authorities for review, shortening cycle times while maintaining defensibility. In transfer pricing and controversy readiness, AI can accelerate screening of comparables, check consistency across intercompany agreements, invoices and customs data, and assemble master and local files. As part of the audit procedures, analytics can prioritise requests and anticipate focus areas from historical patterns, with oversight to avoid overreliance on probabilistic outputs. Across processes, foundation models can extract tax-relevant attributes from unstructured sources such as contracts, invoices, and customs forms.

What distinguishes 2025 for tax functions is maturity over novelty. Deployments are becoming narrower, better governed and tied to outcomes: faster close, fewer errors, stronger audit results and clearer control evidence. Successful implementations start with well mapped data, integrated systems and controls aligned to evolving regulations. As AI becomes built into tax operations through 2026, the differentiator will be professional judgement applied to better, faster information, supported by governance that keeps models current and compliant. The technology reached an appropriate level to deploy on scale; value now depends on disciplined execution and the human expertise that directs it.

Kathryn Hogan, Senior Manager, International Tax, Forvis Mazars: New technology constantly presents opportunities for process reinvention, for example, by digitising existing work. Artificial Intelligence (AI), however, is more than that. AI reshapes the work itself. AI-driven solutions can provide faster tax insights, greater accuracy, and forward-looking decision support to tax professionals across our global organisations.

AI is replacing repetitive tasks within tax compliance and planning with the introduction of AI-assisted tax preparation tools. AI is accelerating tax data extraction and analysis, scanning documents for relevant figures, classifying transactions for tax treatment, and even identifying applicable deductions or credits. AI can help prepare tax filings by assembling data into the proper formats and checking against regulations.

AI can continuously scan global regulatory databases and legal texts to summarise new laws, deadlines and changes, promptly altering tax teams and enabling them to adapt their strategies accordingly. Providing tax advisors with knowledge of tax developments and industry trends frees us up to spend more time interpreting and advising our clients.

AI tax advisory tools that have been developed can project future tax outcomes under different scenarios, e.g. what-if analyses for new investments. This allows us, as tax advisors, to offer more strategic tax planning by using predictive analytics to advise on the tax impact of decisions. It can detect patterns and trends in tax data to uncover risks and optimise transactions.

The future of AI in tax technology isn’t a distant horizon it is unfolding and accelerating now. It will reshape how we work, combining human judgement and caution with automation, whilst meeting clients’ rising expectations for digital service. The adoption of AI must be strategic, secure, and compliant with evolving regulations to effectively modernise tax compliance, drive efficiency, and enhance accuracy.

This article appeared in the January 2026 edition of the Irish Tax Monitor.