INTEGRATING ESG FACTORS INTO CORPORATE TAX RISK MANAGEMENT: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Résumé

Abstract

Objective: This research paper discusses incorporating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) business issues into corporate tax risk management to determine important frameworks, empirical data, and difficulties, as well as the best practices.

Theoretical Framework: The study is based on the legitimacy theory, the stakeholder theory and the agency theory to justify how taxation emerges as a tangible ESG problem and the effects it has on corporate responsibility.

Method: A literature review was undertaken systematically to investigate publications that were published in the years 2020-2026. Having an initial set of 169 articles, 30 high-quality papers were chosen and evaluated through AI-assisted relevance scoring and thematic synthesis in different geographic settings.

Results and Discussion: It can be seen that taxation is gaining the recognition as an ESG issue that has a core impact on corporate legitimacy. Nevertheless, a paradox is introduced: some studies confirm the existence of a positive correlation between ESG performance and tax avoidance, suggesting that the gap between disclosure and actual practice exists. Governance systems such as board diversity and board independence largely affect the management of tax risk. The major issues are the data constraints, compaction in the regulatory sphere, and contradictory stakeholder expectations.

Research Implications: The study can be described by the significant gaps, in particular, the necessity of longitudinal and cross-country research and the necessity to assess ESG-tax integration frameworks further.

Originality/Value: The study is a synthesis of fragmented literature that demonstrates the ESG-tax avoidance paradox and adds taxation as a cutting-cutting ESG issue, moving a more connected approach to corporate tax management.

Keywords : ESG Integration; Corporate Tax Risk Management; Tax Governance; Tax Transparency; Stakeholder Theory.