Paying Taxes

This topic addresses the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as measures of administrative burden in paying taxes.

The table below shows the main indicators. They include:

total number of tax payments per year
time it takes to prepare, file and pay (or withhold) the corporate income tax, the value added tax and social security contributions (in hours per year)
amount of taxes on profits paid by the business as a percentage of commercial profits
amount of taxes and mandatory contributions on labor paid by the business as a percentage of commercial profits. This amount include mandatory social security contributions paid by the employer both to public and private entities, as well as other taxes or contributions related to employing workers.
amount of taxes and mandatory contributions paid by the business that are not already included in the previous 2 categories
total amount of taxes and mandatory contributions payable by the business

To see the details for a specific economy, use the dropdown box on the right or click on the links below. Click on column headers to sort data.

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Paying Taxes 2008 - The Global Picture - This new report provides data on total tax rates, payment frequency, and the time needed to comply with tax regulations in 178 economies.

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The Effect of Corporate Taxes on Investment and Entrepreneurship, by Djankov and others (PDF, 761KB), January 2008

Region or Economy	Payments (number)	Time (hours)	Profit tax (%)	Labor tax and contributions (%)	Other taxes (%)	Total tax rate (% profit)
East Asia & Pacific	24.9	251.6	20.0	11.1	7.6	38.7
Eastern Europe & Central Asia	47.2	366.8	11.8	26.1	10.2	48.1
Latin America & Caribbean	34.8	393.5	20.4	14.6	13.6	48.6
Middle East & North Africa	22.8	216.3	12.9	16.3	4.1	33.3
OECD	13.4	210.5	17.5	24.4	3.4	45.3
South Asia	31.5	293.3	18.1	7.5	14.7	40.4
Sub-Saharan Africa	37.8	311.7	21.5	13.2	32.0	66.7
Afghanistan	8	275	0.0	0.0	36.4	36.4
Albania	44	244	16.7	28.6	5.2	50.5
Algeria	34	451	8.3	30.2	35.7	74.2
Angola	31	272	24.6	9.0	19.5	53.2
Antigua and Barbuda	56	207	31.2	9.5	6.2	46.8
Argentina	9	453	2.8	29.4	75.9	108.1
Armenia	50	958	12.1	23.4	1.1	36.6
Australia	12	107	27.2	21.8	1.2	50.3
Austria	22	170	15.1	34.5	4.9	54.5
Azerbaijan	23	376	13.8	24.8	2.5	41.1
Bahamas, the	17	58	0.0	6.1	40.9	47.0
Bahrain	25	36	0.0	14.7	0.4	15.0
Bangladesh	21	302	27.3	0.0	12.2	39.5
Belarus	112	1,188	22.0	39.6	55.8	117.5
Belgium	11	156	5.9	50.4	1.8	58.1
Belize	40	147	19.8	7.0	1.4	28.2
Benin	55	270	16.7	32.7	23.9	73.2
Bhutan	19	274	34.2	1.1	4.4	39.8
Bolivia	41	1,080	0.0	15.5	62.6	78.1
Bosnia and Herzegovina	51	428	21.5	17.2	5.4	44.1
Botswana	19	140	17.0	0.0	0.1	17.1
Brazil	11	2,600	21.3	40.6	7.5	69.4
Brunei	15	144	31.8	5.6	0.0	37.4
Bulgaria	17	616	4.2	26.8	3.9	34.9
Burkina Faso	45	270	15.2	22.6	6.9	44.6
Burundi	32	140	17.7	7.8	253.3	278.7
Cambodia	27	137	19.1	0.0	3.5	22.6
Cameroon	41	1,400	28.4	18.3	4.7	51.4
Canada	9	119	25.5	12.6	7.3	45.4
Cape Verde	57	100	22.0	18.5	13.5	54.0
Central African Republic	54	504	176.8	8.1	18.9	203.8
Chad	54	122	31.3	23.9	5.8	60.5
Chile	10	316	18.3	3.8	3.8	25.9
China	9	504	12.0	58.9	9.0	79.9
Colombia	31	256	17.9	33.4	27.1	78.4
Comoros	20	100	27.2	0.0	21.6	48.8
Congo, Dem. Rep.	32	308	0.0	7.9	221.9	229.8
Congo, Rep.	61	606	0.0	32.9	32.6	65.5
Costa Rica	43	282	19.8	29.3	6.6	55.7
Côte d'Ivoire	66	270	9.7	20.1	15.7	45.4
Croatia	17	196	11.4	19.4	1.7	32.5
Czech Republic	12	930	6.0	39.5	3.1	48.6
Denmark	9	135	23.5	0.7	5.7	29.9
Djibouti	35	114	17.7	17.7	3.3	38.7
Dominica	38	120	25.9	7.9	3.2	37.0
Dominican Republic	9	480	20.5	13.4	1.8	35.7
Ecuador	8	600	18.5	13.7	2.8	34.9
Egypt	29	711	13.6	28.9	3.6	46.1
El Salvador	53	320	17.0	17.2	0.7	34.9
Equatorial Guinea	46	296	13.5	25.4	20.6	59.5
Eritrea	18	216	8.8	0.0	75.8	84.5
Estonia	10	81	8.8	38.3	1.5	48.6
Ethiopia	20	198	26.8	0.0	4.3	31.1
Fiji	33	140	31.2	10.2	0.2	41.5
Finland	20	269	17.0	29.7	1.0	47.8
France	11	132	8.3	51.3	5.8	65.4
Gabon	26	272	19.7	22.7	2.3	44.7
Gambia, the	50	376	41.4	12.8	238.2	292.4
Georgia	30	387	14.1	22.6	2.0	38.6
Germany	16	196	22.7	22.1	5.7	50.5
Ghana	33	224	18.1	14.1	0.6	32.7
Greece	10	224	13.9	31.7	1.9	47.4
Grenada	30	140	27.6	5.6	12.1	45.3
Guatemala	39	344	1.6	14.3	20.6	36.5
Guinea	56	416	21.8	17.3	10.8	49.9
Guinea-Bissau	46	208	14.9	24.8	6.1	45.9
Guyana	34	288	26.6	8.8	4.0	39.4
Haiti	42	160	23.3	12.4	4.3	40.1
Honduras	47	224	27.4	10.7	11.1	49.3
Hong Kong, China	4	80	18.6	5.3	0.3	24.2
Hungary	14	330	9.1	39.4	8.9	57.5
Iceland	31	140	8.5	12.8	5.4	26.8
India	60	271	22.9	18.2	30.4	71.5
Indonesia	51	266	26.6	10.6	0.1	37.3
Iran	22	344	17.9	25.9	0.4	44.2
Iraq	13	312	11.1	13.5	0.0	24.7
Ireland	9	76	14.2	12.1	2.5	28.8
Israel	33	230	26.2	5.3	2.4	33.9
Italy	15	334	28.0	43.2	2.1	73.3
Jamaica	72	414	28.6	13.0	9.7	51.3
Japan	13	355	34.0	16.2	5.3	55.4
Jordan	26	101	15.1	12.4	3.6	31.1
Kazakhstan	9	271	15.6	17.9	2.8	36.4
Kenya	41	417	32.5	6.8	11.6	50.9
Kiribati	7	120	23.4	8.5	0.0	31.8
Korea	14	250	18.6	13.4	1.7	33.7
Kuwait	14	118	3.7	10.7	0.0	14.4
Kyrgyz Republic	75	202	3.0	23.7	34.7	61.4
Lao PDR	34	560	25.2	5.6	2.9	33.7
Latvia	7	279	2.2	27.2	3.7	33.0
Lebanon	19	180	12.0	24.1	0.0	36.0
Lesotho	21	324	14.5	0.0	3.4	18.0
Liberia	32	158	25.1	5.4	5.3	35.8
Lithuania	15	166	8.3	35.2	2.9	46.4
Luxembourg	22	59	4.1	15.3	1.6	21.0
Macedonia, FYR	40	75	14.0	0.8	3.5	18.4
Madagascar	25	238	19.6	20.3	2.9	42.8
Malawi	19	292	29.6	1.1	0.7	31.4
Malaysia	12	145	16.8	15.6	2.1	34.5
Maldives	1	0	0.0	0.0	9.1	9.1
Mali	58	270	13.3	31.5	6.7	51.4
Marshall Islands	21	128	0.0	11.8	53.0	64.9
Mauritania	38	696	0.0	17.6	81.1	98.7
Mauritius	7	161	11.3	3.6	7.3	22.2
Mexico	27	549	23.2	27.0	1.4	51.5
Micronesia	21	128	52.0	6.8	0.0	58.7
Moldova	53	234	10.4	31.4	0.3	42.1
Mongolia	42	204	6.8	22.6	1.0	30.3
Montenegro	89	372	9.6	20.0	2.2	31.8
Morocco	28	358	21.3	21.5	1.8	44.6
Mozambique	37	230	27.7	4.5	2.1	34.3
Namibia	37	375	16.7	1.0	7.6	25.3
Nepal	34	408	20.3	11.3	2.5	34.1
Netherlands	9	180	21.8	15.9	1.4	39.1
New Zealand	8	70	32.4	2.4	0.7	35.6
Nicaragua	64	240	24.9	19.2	19.2	63.2
Niger	42	270	14.9	19.6	7.8	42.3
Nigeria	35	938	21.8	9.7	0.7	32.2
Norway	4	87	24.4	15.9	1.3	41.6
Oman	14	62	9.7	11.8	0.1	21.6
Pakistan	47	560	13.9	12.6	2.3	28.9
Palau	19	128	0.0	6.5	66.5	73.0
Panama	59	482	16.9	22.5	11.2	50.6
Papua New Guinea	33	194	22.2	10.9	8.6	41.7
Paraguay	35	328	9.6	18.6	6.7	35.0
Peru	9	424	27.1	11.8	2.2	41.2
Philippines	47	195	26.3	10.3	14.2	50.8
Poland	40	418	13.0	23.5	3.7	40.2
Portugal	8	328	14.1	26.8	2.7	43.6
Puerto Rico	16	218	25.3	12.6	26.9	64.7
Qatar	1	36	0.0	11.3	0.0	11.3
Romania	113	202	10.4	35.5	2.1	48.0
Russian Federation	22	448	10.7	31.8	6.2	48.7
Rwanda	34	160	20.1	5.7	7.9	33.7
Samoa	37	224	11.9	7.0	0.0	18.9
São Tomé and Principe	42	424	35.5	6.8	4.9	47.2
Saudi Arabia	14	79	2.1	12.4	0.0	14.5
Senegal	59	666	14.8	24.1	7.0	46.0
Serbia	66	279	11.6	20.2	2.2	34.0
Seychelles	16	76	23.6	22.6	0.5	46.6
Sierra Leone	28	399	0.0	11.3	222.2	233.5
Singapore	5	84	7.9	14.9	5.1	27.9
Slovakia	31	325	6.8	39.5	1.0	47.4
Slovenia	22	260	13.0	21.1	2.6	36.7
Solomon Islands	33	80	24.9	8.5	3.0	36.3
South Africa	9	200	24.5	2.3	7.4	34.2
Spain	8	234	22.2	37.2	0.8	60.2
Sri Lanka	62	256	26.5	16.9	20.3	63.7
St. Kitts and Nevis	24	172	32.7	11.3	8.8	52.7
St. Lucia	32	61	25.5	5.6	2.9	34.0
St. Vincent and the Grenadines	36	117	35.2	3.9	3.4	42.6
Sudan	42	180	9.3	19.2	3.1	31.6
Suriname	17	199	27.9	0.0	0.0	27.9
Swaziland	33	104	28.1	4.0	4.5	36.6
Sweden	2	122	16.5	36.4	1.7	54.5
Switzerland	24	63	8.9	16.7	3.3	28.9
Syria	20	336	23.2	19.3	1.0	43.5
Taiwan, China	23	340	19.5	16.7	4.2	40.4
Tajikistan	54	224	17.7	28.2	39.7	85.5
Tanzania	48	172	19.8	18.0	7.3	45.1
Thailand	23	264	28.5	5.7	3.7	37.8
Timor-Leste	15	640	27.8	0.0	0.6	28.3
Togo	53	270	13.2	28.3	6.6	48.2
Tonga	23	164	26.3	0.0	1.2	27.5
Trinidad and Tobago	40	114	21.6	5.8	5.8	33.1
Tunisia	22	228	11.9	24.6	22.5	59.1
Turkey	15	223	16.8	24.5	4.3	45.5
Uganda	32	222	22.0	11.3	1.3	34.5
Ukraine	99	848	11.5	43.3	3.7	58.4
United Arab Emirates	14	12	0.0	14.1	0.3	14.4
United Kingdom	8	105	21.0	11.2	3.1	35.3
United States	10	187	23.5	9.6	9.2	42.3
Uruguay	53	336	23.2	10.5	24.9	58.5
Uzbekistan	106	196	1.9	27.1	61.6	90.6
Vanuatu	31	120	0.0	4.5	3.9	8.4
Venezuela	70	864	10.3	26.9	19.4	56.6
Vietnam	32	1,050	20.6	19.2	0.3	40.1
West Bank and Gaza	27	154	16.2	0.0	0.6	16.8
Yemen	44	248	35.1	11.3	1.4	47.8
Zambia	37	132	1.7	10.4	4.0	16.1
Zimbabwe	52	256	0.0	4.7	59.0	63.7

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Paying Taxes

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