Time to prepare and pay taxes (hours) - Country Ranking

Definition: Time to prepare and pay taxes is the time, in hours per year, it takes to prepare, file, and pay (or withhold) three major types of taxes: the corporate income tax, the value added or sales tax, and labor taxes, including payroll taxes and social security contributions.

Source: World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Brazil 1,501.00 2019
2 Bolivia 1,025.00 2019
3 Venezuela 920.00 2019
4 Libya 889.00 2019
5 Chad 834.00 2019
6 Ecuador 664.00 2019
7 Gabon 632.00 2019
8 Cameroon 624.00 2019
9 Congo 602.00 2019
10 Equatorial Guinea 492.00 2019
11 Central African Republic 483.00 2019
12 Bulgaria 441.00 2019
13 Bangladesh 435.00 2019
14 São Tomé and Principe 424.00 2019
15 Senegal 416.00 2019
16 Bosnia and Herzegovina 411.00 2019
17 Panama 408.00 2019
18 Guinea 400.00 2019
19 Vietnam 384.00 2019
20 Paraguay 378.00 2019
21 Nepal 377.00 2019
22 Egypt 370.00 2019
23 Lao PDR 362.00 2019
24 Dem. Rep. Congo 346.00 2019
25 Nigeria 343.37 2019
26 Sierra Leone 343.00 2019
27 Syrian Arab Republic 336.00 2019
28 Poland 334.00 2019
29 Ukraine 327.50 2019
30 Lesotho 327.00 2019
31 The Gambia 326.00 2019
32 Dominican Republic 317.00 2019
33 Iraq 312.00 2019
34 Argentina 311.50 2019
35 Namibia 302.00 2019
36 Ethiopia 300.00 2019
36 Montenegro 300.00 2019
38 Chile 296.00 2019
39 Angola 287.00 2019
40 Pakistan 283.00 2019
41 Myanmar 282.00 2019
42 Hungary 277.00 2019
43 Mali 276.00 2019
44 Burkina Faso 270.00 2019
44 Benin 270.00 2019
44 Afghanistan 270.00 2019
44 Niger 270.00 2019
44 Mauritania 270.00 2019
49 Jamaica 268.00 2019
50 Algeria 265.00 2019
51 Armenia 264.00 2019
52 Peru 260.00 2019
53 Guyana 256.00 2019
54 Colombia 255.50 2019
55 Albania 252.00 2019
56 India 251.88 2019
57 Guatemala 248.00 2019
57 Yemen 248.00 2019
59 Fiji 247.00 2019
60 Portugal 243.00 2019
61 Zimbabwe 242.00 2019
62 Barbados 241.00 2019
63 Mexico 240.50 2019
64 Italy 238.00 2019
65 Israel 234.00 2019
65 Timor-Leste 234.00 2019
67 Slovenia 233.00 2019
68 Burundi 232.00 2019
69 Czech Republic 230.00 2019
70 Thailand 229.00 2019
71 Ghana 226.00 2019
72 Serbia 225.50 2019
73 Samoa 224.00 2019
73 Tajikistan 224.00 2019
75 Kyrgyz Republic 220.00 2019
76 Guinea-Bissau 218.00 2019
76 Germany 218.00 2019
76 Puerto Rico 218.00 2019
79 Georgia 216.00 2019
79 Iran 216.00 2019
79 Eritrea 216.00 2019
82 Trinidad and Tobago 210.00 2019
82 South Africa 210.00 2019
84 Papua New Guinea 207.00 2019
84 Tanzania 207.00 2019
86 Croatia 206.00 2019
87 St. Kitts and Nevis 203.00 2019
87 Honduras 203.00 2019
89 Nicaragua 201.00 2019
90 Mozambique 200.00 2019
90 Tonga 200.00 2019
92 Suriname 199.00 2019
93 Uganda 195.00 2019
94 Greece 193.00 2019
95 Slovak Republic 192.00 2019
96 Indonesia 191.00 2019
97 Côte d'Ivoire 187.00 2019
98 Kazakhstan 186.00 2019
99 Haiti 184.00 2019
100 Moldova 183.00 2019
100 Madagascar 183.00 2019
102 Uzbekistan 181.00 2019
102 Lebanon 181.00 2019
104 Cabo Verde 180.00 2019
104 Sudan 180.00 2019
106 Kenya 179.50 2019
107 Antigua and Barbuda 177.00 2019
108 United States 175.00 2019
109 Korea 174.00 2019
109 Malaysia 174.00 2019
111 Cambodia 173.00 2019
112 Philippines 171.00 2019
113 Turkey 170.00 2019
113 Belarus 170.00 2019
115 Malawi 169.00 2019
116 Latvia 168.50 2019
117 El Salvador 168.00 2019
117 Kiribati 168.00 2019
119 Romania 163.00 2019
119 Uruguay 163.00 2019
121 Togo 159.00 2019
121 Russia 159.00 2019
121 Azerbaijan 159.00 2019
124 United Arab Emirates 158.00 2019
124 Zambia 158.00 2019
126 Morocco 155.00 2019
126 The Bahamas 155.00 2019
128 Saudi Arabia 152.00 2019
129 Costa Rica 151.00 2019
130 Belize 147.00 2019
131 Tunisia 144.00 2019
132 Spain 143.00 2019
133 Iceland 140.00 2019
133 New Zealand 140.00 2019
133 Grenada 140.00 2019
133 Mauritius 140.00 2019
137 Liberia 139.50 2019
138 France 139.00 2019
138 Malta 139.00 2019
140 China 138.00 2019
141 Belgium 136.00 2019
142 Mongolia 134.00 2019
143 Denmark 132.00 2019
144 Canada 131.00 2019
144 Austria 131.00 2019
146 Sri Lanka 129.00 2019
147 Japan 128.50 2019
148 Sweden 122.00 2019
148 Eswatini 122.00 2019
150 Vanuatu 120.00 2019
150 Botswana 120.00 2019
152 Cyprus 119.50 2019
153 North Macedonia 119.00 2019
153 Netherlands 119.00 2019
155 Dominica 117.00 2019
156 United Kingdom 114.00 2019
157 St. Lucia 110.00 2019
158 St. Vincent and the Grenadines 108.00 2019
159 Australia 105.00 2019
160 Comoros 100.00 2019
161 Kuwait 98.00 2019
162 Jordan 96.50 2019
163 Lithuania 95.00 2019
164 Rwanda 90.50 2019
165 Finland 90.00 2019
166 Seychelles 85.00 2019
167 Ireland 81.50 2019
168 Solomon Islands 80.00 2019
169 Norway 79.00 2019
170 Djibouti 76.00 2019
171 Oman 68.00 2019
172 Singapore 64.00 2019
173 Switzerland 63.00 2019
174 Luxembourg 55.00 2019
175 Brunei 52.50 2019
176 San Marino 52.00 2019
176 Bhutan 52.00 2019
176 Palau 52.00 2019
179 Estonia 50.00 2019
180 Liechtenstein 49.00 2019
181 Qatar 41.00 2019
182 Hong Kong SAR, China 34.50 2019
183 Bahrain 22.50 2019

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Development Relevance: The total tax rate payable by businesses provides a comprehensive measure of the cost of all the taxes a business bears. It differs from the statutory tax rate, which is the factor applied to the tax base. In computing business tax rates, actual tax payable is divided by commercial profit. Taxes are the main source of revenue for most governments. The sources of tax revenue and their relative contributions are determined by government policy choices about where and how to impose taxes and by changes in the structure of the economy. Tax policy may reflect concerns about distributional effects, economic efficiency (including corrections for externalities), and the practical problems of administering a tax system. There is no ideal level of taxation. But taxes influence incentives and thus the behavior of economic actors and the economy's competitiveness.

Limitations and Exceptions: To make the data comparable across countries, several assumptions are made about businesses. The main assumptions are that they are limited liability companies, they operate in the country's most populous city, they are domestically owned, they perform general industrial or commercial activities, and they have certain levels of start-up capital, employees, and turnover. The Doing Business methodology on business taxes is consistent with the Total Tax Contribution framework developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (now PwC), which measures the taxes that are borne by companies and that affect their income statements. However, PwC bases its calculation on data from the largest companies in the economy, while Doing Business focuses on a standardized medium-size company.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The data covering taxes payable by businesses, measure all taxes and contributions that are government mandated (at any level - federal, state, or local), apply to standardized businesses, and have an impact in their income statements. The taxes covered go beyond the definition of a tax for government national accounts (compulsory, unrequited payments to general government) and also measure any imposts that affect business accounts. The main differences are in labor contributions and value added taxes. The data account for government-mandated contributions paid by the employer to a requited private pension fund or workers insurance fund but exclude value added taxes because they do not affect the accounting profits of the business - that is, they are not reflected in the income statement.

Aggregation method: Unweighted average

Periodicity: Annual

General Comments: Data are presented for the survey year instead of publication year.