The rising tide of tax complexity

By Robyn Walker

Deloitte’s 2026 Global Tax Policy Survey finds rising tide of compliance and complexity is the biggest tax challenge facing global businesses

Key takeaways

• The biggest tax policy impacts are driven by growing complexity and compliance requirements—almost 40% of respondents see the rising compliance burden as their biggest issue.
• Digitalisation is delivering benefits in tax administration, with the promise of more to come. But the implementation of new systems brings challenges; for example, on e-invoicing, the survey reveals declining optimism about its benefits, dropping from 59% in 2024 to 36% in 2026.
• Tax incentives are increasingly opening up new opportunities for businesses as governments offer more subsidies and reliefs to compete for investment and talent.    

Deloitte’s 2026 Global Tax Policy Survey of 1,010 tax and finance leaders across 28 jurisdictions (including 305 from the Asia Pacific region) reveals that organisations are facing increased tax complexity, growing compliance burdens and high upfront costs to reap the benefits of digitalization.

“The rising tide of complexity and compliance burdens is having a huge impact on global businesses,” says Amanda Tickel, Deloitte Global Tax and Trade Policy Leader. “For example, 84% of those surveyed expect more public tax disclosures and reporting in the next two to three years, while even in areas like tax digitalisation—where simplification might be expected—leaders are becoming less optimistic about near-term benefits.”

The survey shows that complexity is a challenge across all regions and all industry sectors.  It comes from multiple sources, including Pillar Two compliance and public country-by-country reporting.

There have been moves toward simplification, such as the additional safe harbours in the Pillar Two Side-by-Side package. But more is needed as 41% of respondents believe further simplification of Pillar Two compliance should be a priority.

With Pillar Two now agreed and in its implementation phase, it is notable that 68% of respondents expect to either pay no more tax or only marginally more tax as a result. This raises questions of proportionality: are the costs, complexities and burdens of Pillar Two justified by the level of additional tax raised?

What else does the report reveal?

• Tax complexity is the top issue affecting global tax and finance leaders in 2026
  Growing reporting, compliance, and administrative demands are intensifying across themes; with 40% of respondents identifying increasing compliance demands as the primary driver of operational impact across the business, and 84% expecting more public tax disclosures in the next two to three years.
• Simplifying Pillar Two remains critical, even as implementation moves forward
  While the additional Safe Harbours from the Side-by-Side package have been welcomed as delivering some simplification, more is needed as 41% of respondents still see further simplification as a key future priority for international coordination.
• For investment decisions, tax stability and certainty matter more than the overall tax burden
  When considering investment jurisdiction, 60% rate stability and certainty as the most important deciding factor, versus 52% for the overall tax burden.
• Digitalisation and AI are raising expectations for tax transformation, but the benefits are not immediate
  85% of respondents now expect AI-based tax compliance software to deliver positive impacts, organizations are seeing gains in accuracy and efficiency, but data quality, governance, and implementation costs are slowing down the benefits of digital tax transformation.
• Tax incentives are becoming a key aspect of tax competition
  Governments are increasingly using incentives to influence investment, talent, and sustainability outcomes.