BULGARIA IS FOURTH IN EUROPE ON LOW TAXES. LAST IN TERMS OF TIME FOR PAYING THESE
Businesses here need 616 hours for tax payments, in the EU this figure is 222 hours on average
Bulgaria ranks fourth in the EU on lower taxes (as a share of the revenues of businesses) with 29% and 35th in the world, shows a survey of PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted among 183 economies. Luxembourg with 21.1%, Cyprus with 23.2%, and Ireland with 26.5% are ahead of us in Europe. The EU average is 44.2, while globally the figure is even higher - 47.8%.
Our northern neighbour Romania is a bit above the EU average - 44.9%, and holds the 14th position, followed by our southern neighbour Greece - at 15th place with 47.2%. The lowest tax burden of 0.2% is introduced in East Timor, followed by Vanuatu - with 8.4%, and the Maldives - with 9.3%.
Despite the low tax burden, however, Bulgaria is at the bottom of the list globally, in terms of the time needed for the respective payments - 616 hours. Out of these the total of 288 hours is used merely for the payment of security contributions, according to another study. In Luxembourg, businesses paid their duties to the treasury within 59 hours, in Switzerland - within 63 and in Ireland - within 76 hours. On this indicator, the country ranks last among the EU countries and on 171st place among 183 economies.
European companies need an average of 222 hours to comply with tax laws; globally this figure is 282 hours. In Greece, businesses need 224 hours to cover their tax liabilities, which places the country on the 90th position, in Romania - 222 hours or the 87th place. With a total of 34 payments of taxes, Bulgaria is 56th in the ranking. Greece holds the 33th position with 20 payments, while Romania is on the 182nd unenviable position.
Bulgaria is among the 10 countries globally that facilitated most substantially the payment of taxes last year, taking the 6th position. First is Tunisia, followed by Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Canada and Macedonia. Globally, the liabilities to the treasury are paid most easily in the Maldive islands, in Qatar and Hong Kong and in the most difficult way in Ukraine, the Central African Republic and Belarus. A total of 11 economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have facilitated the payments to the treasury since 2004. The average time, which businesses must use for this purpose has fallen by 2 working weeks. However, the administrative fee in the region is still high.
