Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) represents a new era in the usage of innovation in technology and is disrupting nearly every industry across the globe. Data has undoubtedly become an important focus of this revolution and allows companies and industries to progress at a much faster pace. Globally, many countries are leading in 4IR and have used these technologies to enhance many industries. South Africa has developed a 4IR strategy that has been driven by the Presidential commission. The taxation system of any country is driven on data collection and authentication. These tax industries can benefit from these innovative technologies by making more informed decisions using this insightful data. Some countries are using this technology to their advantage and others are lagging. The paper examines the current use of 4IR tools, globally, from a tax perspective. Selected countries, including South Africa, were selected for comparison to identify the awareness of 4IR and how they use 4IR tools, specifically in the tax industry. This provides insight into how South Africa is performing in comparison to the other countries and identify if there are short comings in the South African tax system. In South Africa, there is minimal use of these 4IR tools. Furthermore, this contributes to the identification of where South Africa could improve its tax system using 4IR. A documentary analysis of literature is undertaken to identify how the tax systems globally are impacted using 4IR. This is used to compare what is used in the South African system and to identify the areas where South Africa can use 4IR more effectively.