Regulation: Complexity of paying taxes

The direct cost of taxes is covered in the cost competitiveness section above. Below we address the regulatory burden associated with paying taxes, specifically the hours to prepare and file returns.

Jordan, Canada, Malaysia, the United States and the Philippines have tax regimes that require the least amount of time with the average small to medium business having to spend 100-200 hours on preparing and filing taxes. India is not significantly worse, requiring about 300 hours. China is further down the list requiring about 500 and Vietnam and Brazil are at the bottom requiring approximately 1,000 and 2,000 hours respectively.

Data is sourced from The World Bank Doing Business survey which is the most comprehensive comparative survey on the regulatory burden on small and medium business across the globe.