Monday, November 19, 2007

Singapore Ranked Tops In Asia For Ease Of Tax Payment

Source : Channel NewsAsia, 19 November 2007

Singapore has come up tops overall in Asia for ease of tax payment, according to a poll by the World Bank, IFC and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It is ranked number two in the world, after the Maldives and ahead of Hong Kong.

Singapore performed favourably in the indicators measured, which are the total tax rate, the number of tax payments, and the amount of time it takes to pay.

Companies here take only 49 hours per year to comply with their tax obligations, compared to 58 hours in Luxembourg, 62 hours in Oman and as many as 2,600 hours in Brazil.

Singapore is also in the Top 10 in terms of the fewest number of tax payments.

There are only five tax payments for companies here, compared with eight in the United Kingdom and Spain, and as many as 118 in Uzbekistan and 124 in Belarus.

Only the Maldives, Sweden, Hong Kong and Norway have fewer number of tax payments than Singapore.

The report said companies and countries in general will benefit if governments simplify tax systems, ease compliance cost on business and reduce tax rates.

Other economies that have easy tax filing processes include the Maldives, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

On the other end of the scale, Belarus was ranked the most difficult place in the world to pay taxes.

The survey covered 178 countries. - CNA/so

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