Best Practices for Good Tax Governance

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Best Practices for Good Tax Governance

02 May 2025 / Report

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The Tax Executives Council of the Conference Board (“TEC”), the B-Team and the European Tax Business Forum (“EBTF”) cooperated on the development of a paper on Best Practice for Good Tax Governancei that was launched in 2022. Participants from the three organisations have continued their cooperation and shared experiences since the launch and have now concluded that it would be appropriate to publish a limited update to the original document, raising some of the more important issues which have been discussed.

This is a discussion paper, not a comprehensive update of the document. Comments and suggestions from all interested parties that are prompted by the issues discussed would be extremely welcome. Based on that feedback, a fuller update of the original document may be considered.

Among the most relevant developments that have been noticed are:

More widespread adoption of ESG principles in corporate reporting and stakeholder engagement and increasing recognition of these principles as of importance in investor relationships and investment decisions.
Aside from ESG, stakeholders and investors are seeking or demanding greater transparency over decisions and outcomes within enterprises, recognised by such developments as the WEF Davos Manifesto1 and the US Business Roundtable2 definition of the purpose of an enterprise.
Greater attention from tax administrations to tax governance in understanding the risk profile of enterprises, particularly larger and more internationally exposed enterprises.
Increased sophistication from tax administrations in accessing, analysing and assessing financial and other data in respect of indirect as well as direct taxes. More tax administrations now also have direct access to corporate data through digital filing obligations.
The international corporate tax landscape is undergoing significant change through the OECD-led development of Pillar I and Pillar II, prompting legislative and reporting changes and data challenges for multinational enterprises.
As more enterprises respond to these changes and implement tax governance principles and policies, experience sharing has highlighted where improvement could be made.

The Tax Executives Council of the Conference Board (“TEC”), the B-Team and the European Tax Business Forum (“EBTF”) cooperated on the development of a paper on Best Practice for Good Tax Governancei that was launched in 2022. Participants from the three organisations have continued their cooperation and shared experiences since the launch and have now concluded that it would be appropriate to publish a limited update to the original document, raising some of the more important issues which have been discussed.

This is a discussion paper, not a comprehensive update of the document. Comments and suggestions from all interested parties that are prompted by the issues discussed would be extremely welcome. Based on that feedback, a fuller update of the original document may be considered.

Among the most relevant developments that have been noticed are:

More widespread adoption of ESG principles in corporate reporting and stakeholder engagement and increasing recognition of these principles as of importance in investor relationships and investment decisions.
Aside from ESG, stakeholders and investors are seeking or demanding greater transparency over decisions and outcomes within enterprises, recognised by such developments as the WEF Davos Manifesto1 and the US Business Roundtable2 definition of the purpose of an enterprise.
Greater attention from tax administrations to tax governance in understanding the risk profile of enterprises, particularly larger and more internationally exposed enterprises.
Increased sophistication from tax administrations in accessing, analysing and assessing financial and other data in respect of indirect as well as direct taxes. More tax administrations now also have direct access to corporate data through digital filing obligations.
The international corporate tax landscape is undergoing significant change through the OECD-led development of Pillar I and Pillar II, prompting legislative and reporting changes and data challenges for multinational enterprises.
As more enterprises respond to these changes and implement tax governance principles and policies, experience sharing has highlighted where improvement could be made.

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