Phl ranks 124th in study on ease of tax payment

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s global ranking in terms of the ease of paying taxes slightly improved this year but still, this was not enough to pull the Philippines out of the bottom half of the list.

In the latest survey on paying taxes made by the World Bank, the International Finance Corp. (IFC), and auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Philippines ranked 124th out of 183 economies included in the study. In 2009, the country ranked 129th.

The study measures the ease of paying taxes across economies worldwide covering both the cost of taxes and the administrative burden of tax compliance.

Across the sampled economies, the study examined the time required for a company to prepare and file tax returns and pay taxes, the number of tax payments the company has to make, and the company’s total tax cost as a percentage of commercial profits, or the total tax rate (TTR).

The Philippines scored 149th in terms of tax payments; 70th in terms of time to comply; and 118th in terms of the TTR.

For the third year in a row Maldives, Qatar and Hong Kong have taken the top three spots as the easiest places to pay taxes. Maldives has been the top performer since the first report was published in 2007.

Other countries where paying taxes are easy include Singapore, Ireland, the Netherlands, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Mauritius, Norway, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Georgia, Switzerland, Canada, Brunei Darussalam, Peru and Bahrain.

In economies like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, it takes less than an average of four days to comply with all tax requirements.

In countries such as Singapore, Qatar, Sweden, Norway, Mexico, Mauritius, Maldives, Latvia, Kiribati, Hong Kong, France, Estonia and China, they require 10 or less forms of taxes and contributions.

The study likewise revealed that despite the economic downturn, paying taxes was getting easier around the world.

Since 2006, 60 percent of the economies in the study have made significant changes to make paying taxes easier.

“The tax cost has fallen on average by five percent, the time needed to comply by a week, and the number of payments by almost four,” the report pointed out.