Artificial intelligence (AI) stands as the core driving force behind the new round of technological revolution, playing a pivotal role in the high-quality development of China’s economy and the optimization and upgrading of its industrial structure. As the primary entities applying AI technologies, enterprises face a critical challenge in accelerating their intelligent transformation and upgrading from traditional manufacturing to smart manufacturing. Among the various policy tools designed to stimulate the vitality of market entities, tax incentives are recognized as a vital means to promote enterprise intelligent transformation. Value-added tax (VAT), as the largest tax category in China, plays a significant role in organizing fiscal revenue and economic regulation. Since the 1994 tax-sharing reform, VAT policies have undergone multiple reforms, generally evolving in a way that encourages investment in intelligent equipment. This paper takes the VAT credit refund reform implemented in 2018 as a policy shock and utilizes AI patent data from the National Intellectual Property Administration and financial data from listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen to investigate the impact of tax incentives on enterprise intelligent transformation from the perspective of financing constraints. The study finds that the VAT credit refund reform promotes enterprise intelligent development, as evidenced by a significant increase in the number of AI patents. Mechanism testing reveals that VAT credit refund effectively alleviates both internal and external financing constraints for enterprises, driving their intelligent transformation by increasing fixed asset investments, promoting R&D expenditures, and optimizing the structure of human capital. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy effect is more pronounced in the eastern and central regions of China, in industries with “high input and low output”, and in mature enterprises. Distinguishing from existing research, this paper examines the influencing factors of intelligent transformation from the perspective of tax benefit empowerment, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the driving mechanism behind intelligent transformation. The findings provide decision-making references for the continuous optimization of VAT reforms, the precise refinement of the VAT credit refund policy, and the rational allocation of refund funds.