BRATISLAVA, December 5, (WEBNOVINY) – Slovakia slipped from the 131st to the 135th rank in the latest PwC Paying Taxes Rankings that compared tax systems in 183 countries. Slovakia plunged in the ranking for 2012 because other countries managed to do more to reform their tax systems, according to Country Managing Partner PwC Slovensko Todd Bradshaw.
More than 73 percent of countries evaluated in the study have a lower Total Tax Rate (TTR) than Slovakia, as the country imposes high tax rates on labor, i.e. social insurance premiums. “Unfortunately, this will not change in the near future because the proposed payroll levy reform will not be realized,” Bradshaw elaborated. Slovakia ranks 129th in terms of ease of paying taxes, which was a fall from the 122nd place reported in the previous study. The time to comply with tax duties came down slightly in annual terms, from 103 to 100 hours.
Based on a report issued by the World Bank, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and PwC, governments continue to reform their tax systems. Since 2006, 123 countries worldwide have introduced extensive changes to trim tax burden borne by SMEs and to moderate impacts of the global economic crisis. Thirty-three countries launched a simpler tax payment system from June 2010 to May 2011. Costs of tax payment came down, too. Governments mostly brought in on-line systems that made the fulfillment of tax duties easier and reduced paperwork.
Paying Taxes 2012 study measures all taxes and contributions a medium-sized company is obliged to pay in the given year. The PwC network employs nearly 169,000 people in 158 countries.
SITA
