From Compliance to Competitive Advantage: Kevin Akeroyd on How AI Is Reshaping Global Tax Operations

June 25, 2026

Introduction

Tax compliance has become a strategic technology priority as governments expand e-invoicing mandates, real-time reporting, and continuous transaction controls across global markets. For multinational enterprises, success depends not only on meeting regulatory obligations but also on adapting quickly to an increasingly dynamic compliance environment. Artificial intelligence is helping organizations strengthen regulatory interpretation, transaction analysis, risk detection, workflow orchestration, and decision support across complex tax operations. As compliance requirements grow in scale and complexity, enterprises are looking beyond automation toward more intelligent, data-driven compliance capabilities. In this interview, AI Technology Insights speaks with Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of Sovos, about the role of AI in modern tax compliance, the evolution of Sovi AI, and how enterprises can build greater agility, governance, and resilience as regulatory expectations continue to evolve.

AIT: Kevin, Sovos had an exciting year in 2025—from AI expansion to global scale initiatives. At a CEO level, what were your biggest strategic milestones?

Kevin Akeroyd: We made a deliberate shift in 2025 to turn tax compliance from a back-office burden into a strategic business advantage. A major milestone in this journey was the rollout of Sovi AI, our embedded AI layer purpose-built for the nuances of global tax compliance. We also introduced Sovos Intelligence, which enables leadership teams to turn messy, fragmented transaction data into clear, actionable insights. 2025 was about laying the foundation for a new compliance model, one where intelligence, automation, and scale work together. That foundation positions us well as we move into 2026 and beyond.

AIT: You pioneered the AI-powered tax automation and always-on compliance solution. How do you see these creating a strong momentum for you in 2026?

Kevin Akeroyd: Multinational tax regulation is accelerating, and as the world moves toward digital mandates with e-invoicing, the complexity of filing will continue to increase. Enterprises are shifting compliance models to more forward-looking approaches, recognizing that manual processes and point solutions can no longer keep pace. This becomes especially clear as countries such as France, Poland and Belgium are rolling out new e-invoicing mandates this year. AI-powered tax automation allows enterprises to stay compliant by design, reducing friction while creating more predictability across increasingly complex global operations. Today, we are further accelerating this momentum by embedding agentic AI directly into the tax compliance workflow, helping teams work faster and make better decisions through tools like Ask Sovi.

AIT: Sovi AI now automates historically manual processes like product tax code classification and data mapping, significantly reducing risk for multinational enterprises. Looking ahead, how do you see Sovi AI evolving into a more advanced intelligence layer that not only automates compliance workflows but also predicts risks and supports real-time global decision-making over the next 12–18 months?

Kevin Akeroyd: We have already reached the next phase of this evolution. Sovi AI has evolved from task-level automation into a broader intelligence layer that sits across compliance operations. Today, its strength is shortening reaction times and reducing manual efforts and inconsistencies in error-prone areas like classification, data normalization, and regulatory interpretation. With our latest expansion, Sovi AI now provides actionable guidance, where the AI diagnoses root causes and proposes specific fixes directly within the flow of work. The insights are applied across larger, more complex data sets to surface risk signals earlier in the transaction lifecycle. We are also now supporting proactive issue detection, which surfaces compliance problems before teams even think to ask or before filing deadlines are reached.

AIT: What measurable outcomes have clients achieved after adopting Sovi AI — in accuracy, onboarding time, audit-readiness, or risk reduction?

Kevin Akeroyd: Our clients are telling us that Sovi AI has created tremendous efficiencies of scale in their tax compliance operations. From the initial onboarding period through issue resolution, time to task completion has been shortened in many cases from weeks to days or even hours. The complexity continues to increase, and incorporating AI into this process is the next frontier for multinational companies needing to ensure global tax compliance. With our new capabilities through “Ask Sovi,” users can now get fast, context-aware answers to complex regulatory questions in multiple languages, further reducing the need for support tickets or manual research.

Tax Compliance Report: AI, Automation, and Human Expertise

AIT: As global e-commerce accelerates, tax rules are changing faster than product catalogs can update. How is Sovos helping enterprises manage tax determination across multiple jurisdictions at scale?

Kevin Akeroyd: Sovos takes the concept of “always-on compliance” seriously. To manage the complexity of different rules and regulations, our Global Tax Determination solutions integrate directly into ERP and e-commerce systems, enabling accurate tax determination the moment a transaction occurs. As product catalogues expand and tax laws shift, enterprises can scale confidently without introducing operational disruptions or unnecessary audit risk.

AIT: Your latest tax compliance report, “The State of Tax Compliance Report,” highlights widespread underestimation of cross-border tax obligations. What key compliance blind spots do multinational businesses still miss going into 2026?

Kevin Akeroyd: A critical compliance blind spot is the rapid shift toward digitization by governments globally. Governments are investing heavily in technology to close the “tax gap” between what is owed and what is collected. As a result, tax authorities now demand real-time visibility into transactions. Ultimately, this means that governments have better and more timely information about your transactions than you do. And this is happening everywhere. This year, we witnessed the IRS’s move into crypto reporting via the 1099-DA, which is expected to more than double the federal government’s total form volume to roughly 13 billion forms in a single year. The implication for enterprises is clear: Compliance errors are more visible, more frequent, and more costly than ever before.

AIT: Governments worldwide are moving toward real-time reporting, e-invoicing, and continuous transaction controls. What does this shift mean for enterprise audit-readiness, and how is Sovos preparing clients for these mandates?

Kevin Akeroyd: The move toward real-time reporting fundamentally changes what audit-readiness means. Compliance is no longer something enterprises can reconcile after the fact; it must be correct at the moment a transaction occurs. Errors that once surfaced during quarterly or annual audits are now visible to tax authorities almost immediately. Sovos prepares clients for this shift by embedding compliance directly into transaction flows and operational systems. Sovos Intelligence and Sovi AI enable enterprises to align data, regulatory logic, and reporting requirements upfront, which reduces the need for retroactive fixes. Sovi AI now provides full audit transparency, documenting every recommendation, approval, and action taken by the AI to ensure complete governance visibility. In this model, audit-readiness becomes an always-on state rather than a periodic exercise.

Let’s Talk About Sovi AI’s Technology

AIT: Sovi AI leverages machine learning across ERP systems like SAP, Oracle, and NetSuite. What innovations have enabled Sovos to process complex enterprise data more accurately and efficiently?

Kevin Akeroyd: The predictive nature of AI is ideal for the tax compliance industry because it is a copycat league, sort of speak. Tax authorities and governments closely monitor the activity of other jurisdictions and when new processes or mandates prove effective, it’s only a matter of time before others introduce it into their own jurisdictions. Sovi AI is supported by a knowledge base maintained by more than 100 global regulatory specialists who are constantly monitoring the regulatory landscape for patterns that will provide early warning systems for our clients that change is likely afoot. So it is the combination of their domain expertise and supported by Sovi AI that really is the secret sauce.

AIT: How do you envision Sovi AI evolving into a central intelligence layer for global compliance over the next 12–18 months?

Kevin Akeroyd: Sovi AI’s trajectory is toward becoming a unifying intelligence layer that connects regulatory content, transaction data, and compliance outcomes across regions. We recently launched the Sovos MCP (Model Context Protocol) Gateway to provide AI agents with standardized, governed access to our Tax Compliance Cloud. As regulations grow more complex and interconnected, enterprises need a single source of intelligence that can interpret changes, apply them consistently, and surface insights across the organization. This enables enterprises to understand their global compliance posture in real time and make better-informed operational and strategic decisions.

AIT: From your vantage point, which regions or regulatory bodies will most influence global tax policy and compliance requirements in 2026?

Kevin Akeroyd: Europe will continue to set the pace, particularly through VAT reform, e-invoicing mandates, and expanded continuous transaction controls. Latin America also remains influential, given its long-standing leadership in real-time reporting frameworks that other regions increasingly reference. At the same time, momentum is building across Asia and the Middle East as governments modernize tax systems and digitize enforcement. The broader trend is convergence around real-time visibility and standardized data, even if requirements differ by jurisdiction.

AIT: Many enterprises still view compliance as a back-office function rather than strategic infrastructure. How do you persuade CEOs and CFOs that modern compliance systems are essential to global growth and risk mitigation?

Kevin Akeroyd: The conversation has shifted from compliance as a cost center to compliance as a strategic enabler for growth. CEOs and CFOs, have begun to realize, and quickly, that the risk is no longer limited to audits and financial penalties; it includes operational disruption, delayed market entry, and diminished confidence in the data used for strategic decisions. Modern compliance systems enable growth by allowing enterprises to scale into new markets faster and operate with confidence in increasingly regulated environments. When compliance is embedded into core systems and supported by intelligence like Sovi AI, it becomes a strategic asset and reduces uncertainty, protects revenue, brand reputation, and supports long-term global expansion.

AI and Fintech Insights: Predictions for 2026

AIT: As AI-powered fintech startups continue to reshape the regulatory and tax ecosystem, which emerging technologies or companies are you personally watching—and why?

Kevin Akeroyd: I am always watching the market to see which new technologies are being introduced either directly into this market or are market adjacent that could impact global tax compliance. But the reality is, the number of vendors who can manage tax compliance on this scale is incredibly small and as we move further down the path of global platforms and AI, the number only gets smaller. I don’t see any scenario in which a startup changes the global landscape in this market.

AIT: With enterprises demanding frictionless integration, how is Sovos approaching interoperability and embedded compliance across ERP, e-commerce, and financial platforms?

Kevin Akeroyd: One of the biggest causes of this friction historically has been the number of point solutions employed by large enterprise organizations. As we move from managing tax compliance through point solutions to a global platform, most, if not all, of the integration issues are resolved. Instead of having to install new technology every time a new mandate is introduced, like with point products, through a global platform, you simply turn it on and are good to go at that moment.

AIT: What is your long-term vision for how AI will redefine global compliance by 2030, and where do you believe Sovos will be positioned in that future landscape?

Kevin Akeroyd: AI will continue to play a big role in global tax compliance on both sides of the aisle. The tax authorities are using it to expedite the time to mandate implementation as we speak. They need the tax revenue and view AI as the fastest path towards getting your money. For the business on the other end of the spectrum, they will need to use AI in their compliance products to both strategically plan for change and to implement across systems when mandates and laws do change. For anyone who thought that AI was simply a fun tool or a nice-to-have, they haven’t been paying close enough attention. It is here to stay and will only become a more important and prominent tool in the years to come. Thank you, Kevin, for replying to all our questions! We look forward to having you again at our Top Voice program.

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Tags: AI, enterprise automation, fintech, RegTech, Tax Compliance