Business Taxation

Tax Compliance Cost Surveys: Using Data to Design Targeted Reforms (February 2010)

A tax compliance cost survey can provide useful information for the design of reforms to reduce compliance costs and risks for small businesses. This note highlights key findings of tax compliance cost surveys conducted in South Africa, the Republic of Yemen, Ukraine, and Peru that measured the burdens on business. These surveys helped fine-tune the design of reforms to lower costs for businesses and improve their competitiveness.

Incentives and Investments: Evidence and Policy Implications (December 2009)

This paper analyzes how investment incentives can be used to foster private investment, particularly in developing countries. What makes such incentives effective? How much should they cost? And how are they linked to policy making and political economy? The assessment draws on existing literature as well as several case studies and surveys conducted for this paper.

A Handbook for Tax Simplification (October 2009)

The Handbook for Tax Simplification provides policy makers and tax practitioners with a framework to assess a tax system, including measuring its various parameters and systems of management. The book analyzes the impact of income tax, the value added tax (VAT), and other local taxes that are imposed on business and defines the best practices for tax policy and tax administration that will yield a system that is simple, predictable and one which does not create an undue burden on private enterprise. Topics addressed in this handbook range from the principal policy considerations for any reform initiative to practical and user-friendly templates for implementing policy and measuring the effectiveness of reform. This book provides a check-list that can help policy makers identify the binding constraints imposed by tax system on business and provides recommendations on how these constrains may be minimized or even removed within the existing political economy environment.

Tax Compliance Perceptions and Formalization of Small Businesses in South Africa (July 2009)

This paper is based on large-scale surveys of formal and informal small businesses in South Africa, including questions about their experiences and perceptions about tax compliance, tax morale, and related variables. The survey findings suggest that formalization is more likely to take place in urban areas, involving relatively larger firms, and those who already use proper bookkeeping.

The Costs of Tax Compliance in Ukraine (2009)

This report presents the results of tax compliance survey for private companies of Ukraine. By far the largest component of all tax compliance costs is the staff time (and associated wage or salary costs) incurred by bookkeepers and accountants that companies employ to carry out tasks related to tax compliance (above and beyond the accounting needs of a company’s financial management). The study shows that tax compliance costs in Ukraine are an onerous burden on private businesses, and especially small businesses, for which such costs may be the equivalent of eight percent of turnover.

Local Taxes, Regulations, and the Business Environment: Finding the Right Balance (April 2009)

In many countries, entrepreneurs face a complex web of local taxes, regulatory fees, and other charges that limit the potential for business growth, investment, and job creation. This note explores the roots of this problem and introduces options for governments to address it.