Tax compliance burden third worse globally

A World Bank report on the tax compliance burden puts Ukraine as the third most onerous in the world. The annual World Bank Doing Business report assesses regulations affecting domestic firms in 183 economies, ranking each on the basis of various criteria including ease of starting a business, insolvency resolution, cross-border trade and the ease (or otherwise) of paying taxes.

Marina Karpenko, director of Russell Bedford member firm Degression Group LLC reports that Russell Bedford member firms have contributed to the report’s Paying Taxes survey since 2009, with 51 member and correspondent firms this year contributing data on tax regulation, compliance and the real tax burden on businesses and entrepreneurs.

Karpenko notes that while this year’s report, Doing Business 2012: Doing Business in a More Transparent World, suggests that the emerging economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have done most to reduce the tax burden on companies – in terms of both reducing compliance requirements and lowering the total tax rate – this year’s Paying Taxes survey indicates Ukrainian businesses continue to bear the most onerous compliance burden, with the country ranked 181 out of 183 countries worldwide: only the Republic of Congo (182) and Venezuela (183) are ranked lower.

Data collected by the World Bank suggests that, while the country has seen a number of reforms over the past 12 months (notably in reducing the corporate income tax rate and unifying social taxes), Ukrainian companies are nonetheless obliged to make 135 separate tax payments every year – the greatest number in any jurisdiction, and a process which takes the average company 657 hours (more than 82 working days) to complete.

Karpenko, commented: “We are well aware of the difficulties faced by small and medium-sized businesses in meeting their compliance obligations. While the introduction of the new Tax Code in January this year will hopefully improve the situation over the next one to two years, the fact remains that most Ukrainian businesses are forced to spend far longer than they should have to on basic tax administration – an unnecessary burden in the current economic climate.”