India’s Corporate Tax Rates Among Highest Globally, Says World Bank

NEW DELHI – Tax rates for companiesin India are among the highest in theworld and the number of payments is alsomore than the global average, putting thecountry at a low 158th rank on the ‘PayingTaxes 2014’ list. However, the time takenfor tax payments is relatively less in India,which is rated ahead of China and Japanwhere it takes 318 hours and 330 hours,respectively, to comply with tax regulations,according to a World Bank and PwCreport. According to the report, the totaltax rate in India can be as high as 62.8 percent, there are as many as 33 paymentsunder the head of profit, labour and othertaxes, and the time taken to comply withtaxation requirements could be as much as243 hours. On a global average, a companytakes 268 hours to pay taxes, makes26.7 payments and has a total tax rate of43.1 per cent. India was placed 158th positionin the overall ranking of paying taxes,above Brazil (159th) and below theRussian Federation (56th) and China,which was ranked 120th.The United Arab Emirates was in firstplace, followed by Qatar and Saudi Arabiain second and third positions in the overallranking. The report noted that in SouthAsia, India is the only economy (of eight)with a complete online system for filingand paying taxes. In the Asia Pacificregion, in the past year, the Maldives andSri Lanka have introduced online platformsfor filing and paying labour contributions,easing the administrative burdenof complying with labour regulations, thereport noted.