Global Tax Transparency and Fairness: Implications for Multinational Corporations in the Digital Economy
Article Sidebar
-
Global Tax Transparency, Tax Fairness, Digital Economy
Abstract
The expansion of the digital economy has intensified long-standing challenges in international taxation, particularly regarding tax transparency and fairness for multinational corporations operating across borders. Traditional tax frameworks struggle to address profit shifting and value creation driven by intangible assets and digital business models, prompting the development of global transparency initiatives. This study aims to examine the implications of global tax transparency and fairness frameworks for multinational corporations in the digital economy, with a focus on how enhanced disclosure affects corporate behavior and tax outcomes. A qualitative–comparative research design is employed, drawing on secondary data from international tax reports, corporate disclosures, and policy documents, complemented by sectoral comparison and an illustrative case study of a digital multinational corporation. The findings show that global transparency initiatives have increased reporting compliance and improved visibility of profit allocation and effective tax rates, particularly in high-income jurisdictions. However, significant disparities in tax outcomes persist across countries, driven by differences in regulatory capacity, enforcement strength, and the continued centrality of intangible assets in digital business models. The study concludes that tax transparency functions as a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving tax fairness in the digital economy. Its novelty lies in integrating tax justice and institutional legitimacy perspectives with empirical analysis of digital multinational corporations, highlighting the gap between formal transparency and substantive fairness and underscoring the need for coordinated reforms beyond disclosure requirements alone.
Full text article
References
Anaf, J. (2024). Health and equity impacts of global consultancy firms. Globalization and Health, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-024-01061-9
Anggia, P. (2023). Legal Justice: The Abolition of the Principle of Bank Secrecy for Tax Interests in Indonesia. Jambura Law Review, 5(2), 314–331. https://doi.org/10.33756/jlr.v5i2.18793
Benson, K. (2025). From money laundering to illicit finance? The evolving ‘AML’ regulatory regimes for legal professionals in the UK and Australia. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 37(2), 245–263. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2024.2443702
Biryukova, A. (2025). Legal Regulation of Advertising in Digital Marketing. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 1474(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08), 110–119. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-94852-7_10
Bradbury, D. (2018). Inclusive fiscal reform: Ensuring fairness and transparency in the international tax system. International Tax and Public Finance, 25(6), 1434–1448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-018-9507-2
Castro-Leon, E. (2012). Global it manageability policies across service boundaries in a cloud environment. Annual Srii Global Conference Srii, Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08, 369–378. https://doi.org/10.1109/SRII.2012.48
Chumakova, I. (2020). Formation of the Information Space for Audit and Taxation as a Factor for the Improvement of Investment Attractiveness of the Ukrainian Economy. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, 78(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22493-6_13
Dickerson, C. M. (2011). Informal-sector entrepreneurs, development and formal law: A functional understanding of business law. American Journal of Comparative Law, 59(1), 179–226. https://doi.org/10.5131/AJCL.2010.0011
Dijck, J. van. (2020). Governing digital societies: Private platforms, public values. Computer Law and Security Review, 36(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2019.105377
Diller, M. (2025). Is Tax Transfer Pricing Harmonization a Panacea? Real Effects of Global Tax Transparency and Standards Consistency. Accounting Review, 100(2), 71–102. https://doi.org/10.2308/TAR-2021-0477
Eccleston, R. (2014). Foreign accounts tax compliance act and american leadership in the campaign against international tax evasion: Revolution or false Dawn? Global Policy, 5(3), 321–333. https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12122
Eccleston, R. (2015). G20 Endorsement in post crisis global governance: More than a toothless talking shop? British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 17(2), 298–317. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-856X.12034
Francis, L. (2020). Gambling’s community contributions: Does the community benefit? Addiction Research and Theory, 28(5), 365–378. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2019.1663834
Gilmour, P. M. (2020). Lifting the veil on beneficial ownership: Challenges of implementing the UK’s registers of beneficial owners. Journal of Money Laundering Control, 23(4), 717–734. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMLC-02-2020-0014
Glasze, G. (2017). Geoinformation, cartographic (Re)presentation and the nation state: A co-constitutive relation and its transformation in the digital age. Net and the Nation State Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Internet Governance, Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08, 218–240. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316534168.015
Hongler, P. (2019). Justice in international tax law: A normative review of the international tax regime. In Justice in International Tax Law A Normative Review of the International Tax Regime (p. 581). https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85174429423&origin=inward
Kavanagh, K. T. (2011). Financial incentives to promote health care quality: The hospital acquired conditions nonpayment policy. Social Work in Public Health, 26(5), 524–541. https://doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2011.533554
Labonté, R. (2016). From the myth of level playing fields to the reality of a finite planet; Comment on “A global social support system: What the international community could learn from the United States’ national basketball association’s scheme for redistribution of new talent”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 5(2), 137–139. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijhpm.2015.202
Oberson, X. (2015). International exchange of information in tax matters: Towards global transparency. In International Exchange of Information in Tax Matters Towards Global Transparency (p. 271). https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784714727
Oberson, X. (2018). International exchange of information in tax matters: Towards global transparency, second edition. In International Exchange of Information in Tax Matters Towards Global Transparency Second Edition (p. 322). https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786434739
Pal, L. (2014). Introduction: The OECD and Policy Transfer: Comparative Case Studies. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis Research and Practice, 16(3), 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2014.910910
Pistone, P. (2014). General report. Impact of the OECD and Un Model Conventions on Bilateral Tax Treaties, Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139095686.002
Prasad, S. (2023). Imperative Role of Blockchain in The Taxation System. 2023 International Conference on Computational Intelligence Communication Technology and Networking Cictn 2023, Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08, 92–95. https://doi.org/10.1109/CICTN57981.2023.10141416
Ronda, E. P. (2016). Indicators of tax liability in foundations covered by Law 49/2002. Special reference to the National Law of Foundations. Ciriec Espana Revista De Economia Publica Social Y Cooperativa, 88(1), 127–164.
Saint-Amans, P. (2016). Global tax and transparency: We have the tools, now we must make them work. OECD Observer, 2016(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08), 76–77.
Schinas, O. (2022). Financing of low-carbon technology projects. Sustainable Energy Systems on Ships Novel Technologies for Low Carbon Shipping, Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08, 431–450. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-824471-5.00019-0
Schuster, O. (2004). Geodesy in the German economy. European Journal of Law and Economics, 17(2), 191–208. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EJLE.0000014576.93993.ba
Simon, K. W. (2017). Legal, registration, and taxation issues of associations. Palgrave Handbook of Volunteering Civic Participation and Nonprofit Associations, 2(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08), 1139–1161. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-26317-9_47
Steenberg, R. (2021). Legitimate corruption: Ethics of bureaucracy and kinship in Central Asia. Studies of Transition States and Societies, 13(1), 3–20.
Stolyarov, V. (2024). IMPLEMENTING ECONOMIC STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION. Reliability Theory and Applications, 19(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08), 1595–1601. https://doi.org/10.24412/1932-2321-2024-681-1595-1601
Sumantri, E. (2024). Global tax avoidance and evasion: A landscape through insights from a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. Journal of Infrastructure Policy and Development, 8(9). https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i9.8073
Tadem, T. S. E. (2009). Localizing and Transnationalizing Contentious Politics: Global Civil Society Movements in the Philippines. In Localizing and Transnationalizing Contentious Politics Global Civil Society Movements in the Philippines (p. 295). https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=105021596048&origin=inward
Timmermans, B. (2018). From value-added tax to a damage and value-added tax partially based on life cycle assessment: Principles and feasibility. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 23(11), 2217–2247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-018-1439-7
Voitenko, O. (2022). GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY AS UKRAINIAN TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES’ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FACTOR. Financial and Credit Activity Problems of Theory and Practice, 5(46), 387–397. https://doi.org/10.55643/fcaptp.5.46.2022.3879
Wang, H. (2022). How business-related governance strategies impact paths towards the formation of global cities? An institutional embeddedness perspective. Land Use Policy, 118(Query date: 2025-12-16 21:50:08). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106139
