UK improves position in effective tax system rankings

The global ranking of effective business tax systems has seen the UK climb a position in the latest report published by PwC and the World Bank Group.

The new study shows that Britain is now 15th in the league table of the world's most effective tax systems, based on criteria which judges how easy it is to pay taxes.

Compliance burden

The rankings are determined by assessing a case study manufacturer’s tax cost and compliance burden.

Head of tax at PwC, Kevin Nicholson, said: “The UK has a competitive tax system, but other countries continue to drive their own tax reform agenda. If the Government is to make the UK the most competitive tax system in the G20, where it currently ranks third on the World Bank index, we can’t afford to sit still on tax reform."

Global average

Over the ten years that the study has been going, the global average time to comply with tax demands has reduced by 61 hours and the number of payments by 8.2.

These positive changes are in the most part due to the introduction of electronic filing and payment systems that ease the burden of tax administration.

In spite of things moving in the right direction, Nicholson said there is still more work to be done.

“The fall in corporation tax is significant but is only part of a wider issue. Reducing the compliance burden is critical, particularly for small or medium sized businesses, where the time spent dealing with taxes can have a considerable impact,” he said.