UK Climbs League Table Of Effective Tax Systems
The UK has climbed to 15th place in the latest World Bank Group and PwC Paying Taxes report, and is third top among G-20 countries, behind Saudi Arabia and Canada.
Paying Taxes 2015 measures how burdensome a country’s tax regime is on the average medium-sized company.
The report found that the UK’s Total Tax Rate has fallen by 1.5 percentage points, to 32 percent, largely due to the fall in the rate of corporation tax, while the compliance sub-indicators are unchanged contributing to the stable position.
Kevin Nicholson, Head of Tax at PwC, said: “The UK has a competitive tax system, but other countries continue to drive their own tax reform agenda. If the Government is to make the UK the most competitive tax system in the G20, where it currently ranks third on the World Bank index, we can’t afford to sit still on tax reform.”
“The fall in corporation tax is significant but is only part of a wider issue. Reducing the compliance burden is critical, particularly for small- or medium-sized businesses, where the time spent dealing with taxes can have a considerable impact.”
The compliance burden for UK businesses has not eased since last year’s study. It still takes about 14 days (110 hours) for a medium-sized company to prepare, file, and pay its corporation, labor, and value-added taxes, with eight different taxes to pay in all.
