It’s not just the tax rate that matters. It’s also the burden of filing them that companies care about.
Canada ranks best among the Group of Eight economies based on the relative ease of paying business taxes, and 11th worldwide, according to a report released Monday by accounting firm PwC, the World Bank and International Finance Corp.
That’s in spite of the fact that Canada’s business tax rate of 28.8 per cent is 39th lowest among 183 countries in the survey.
A typical small or medium-sized Canadian company spends 131 hours on its taxes and makes eight payments per year.
That compares to a global average of 28.5 payments and 277 hours of filing time.
“Canada must compete with other nations for global business investment,” says Lincoln Schreiner, a PwC tax services partner. “A competitive business environment needs an aggressive and efficient tax system which includes competitive tax rates, tax rules that recognize modern business structures and practices, and reduced compliance burdens.”
The next-best G8 performer is Britain in 18th spot. France placed 55th and the United States ranked 69th.
Dead last in the survey was Brazil, where it takes a business an average of 2,600 hours to do its taxes.
The top five in the survey are the Maldives, Qatar, Hong Kong, Singapore and Ireland.
The report praised Canada for making paying taxes easier and less costly for companies by reducing profit tax rates, eliminating the Ontario capital tax and harmonizing federal and provincial sales taxes.
