Eighteen (18) speakers and moderators from three different environments – academia, tax administration and technology – will join forces to achieve the overarching purpose of the Conference which is to identify and show the ways to overcome legal and technical obstacles to ensure eXplainability of AI systems used for tax purposes. The ultimate goal is to strike a balance between minimizing the potential harm to taxpayers and maximizing the efficiency of tax authorities, which could be achieved by following XAI guidelines in the design, deployment and implementation of tax AI. Striking that balance aims to path a way to the future of good tax governance.

After opening the Conference by Prof. Dr. Dennis Weber and Dr. Błażej Kuźniacki, Prof. Dr. Peter Fettke will deliver the keynote speech on “Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) Supporting Public Administration Processes – On the Potential of XAI in Tax Audit” and then the two major parts of the event unfolds: 

1. Presentation and discussion of research outcomes on tax XAI of Dr. Kuźniacki’s research team (Dr. Łukasz Górski, Mr. Kamil Tyliński and Mr. Marco Almada): “Theoretical (Legal) and Empirical (Technological) Aspects of Tax XAI”; and
2. Various interconnected insights from academics, senior officials from tax administrations and the representative of the major technology corporation.

Speakers, Moderators and Chairpersons

• Prof. Dr. Dennis Weber (UvA/Loyens & Loeff)
• Prof. Dr. Peter Fettke (Saarland University / German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI))
• Prof. Dr. Francesca Lagioia (European University Institute and University of Bologna)
• Dr. Giulia Gentile (LSE Law School)
• Dr. Melanie Fink (Leiden University)
• Dr. Błażej Kuźniacki (UvA/PwC Netherlands)
• Dr. Łukasz Górski (University of Warsaw)
• Dr. Jean-Christoph Gaasch (German Federal Central Tax Office)
• Mr. Arthur van der Linden (University of Tilburg/the Dutch tax authorities)
• Mr. Dieter Brughmans (University of Antwerp)
• Mr. Marco Almada (European University Institute)
• Mr. Kamil Tyliński (University College London)
• Mr. Jan Winterhalter (University of Leipzig)
• Ms. Evelyn Liivamägi (Ministry of Finance of Estonia)
• Mr. Paolo Valerio Barbantini (Italian Revenue Agency)
• Mr. Krzysztof Śledzikowski (Poland’s National Revenue Administration)
• Ms. Anita Kruczkowska-Lassak (Poland’s National Revenue Administration)
• Ms. Valentina Ion (Microsoft Corporation)

The slides of the speakers:

Programme

The Conference will be focused on the use of AI in tax domain (tax AI). It will aim to show that ensuring successful outcomes of AI in tax law, tax and human rights lawyers and computer scientists should work together on approaches that address the potential harm of using AI technologies in taxation. This Conference gives a specific attention one such approach: explainable AI (XAI), that is, the development of techniques that make the functioning of an AI system understandable for a given audience.

The Conference will offer attendees the opportunity to gain the knowledge on the use of AI for tax related purposes and engage in a constructive dialogue with scientific, technological and governmental pundits in the interdisciplinary area of AI/XAI and taxation from several countries on various relevant and though-provoking topics such as:

• “Reasoned A(I)dministration: Explanation Requirements in EU Law and the Automation of Public Administration”
• “How to explain inexplicable – the use of graphs and graph databases in big data analysis”.
•  “Co-innovating with the Government: building industry AI models to help improve tax compliance: the journey, learning and output”
• “Documentation of the digital economy: Perspective of law and technology on creating a digital twin for XAI”
•  “Explainable Techniques to Contribute to More Fair and Transparent Tax AI”
• “The European Convention of Human Right and the EU Charter: Effective Legal Protection Against Abuse of AI in Public Domain?”

Location

This will be an “in-person” event without a possibility to participate online. The event will be hosted at CREA Theater & Music on the campus of the UvA in the Netherlands.

Registration and Fee

The entrance fee is 150 Euro for non-students. For UvA students it is free (registration mandatory); but paying participants have priority when there are not enough seats due to capacity limitations. Lunch is not included.

Please register by completing and sending the application form.

Contacts

• Prof. dr. Dennis Weber, Director of the ACTL and CPT project, e-mail: d.m.weber@uva.nl
• Dr. Błażej Kuźniacki, Assistant Professor at the ACTL and Researcher at the CPT Project, email: b.kuzniacki@uva.nl
• Mr. Juan Manuel Vázquez, Academic Coordinator of the CPT project; j.m.vazquez@uva.nl

More information

See the CPT project website