15 Countries Where It Takes The Longest To Prepare And Pay Taxes

Tax preparation and payment is a mandatory process in all countries around the world. Tax preparation involves the process of preparing tax returns with the relevant revenue authority and paying due tax to the government. There are various types of taxes in different countries, and all individuals and business entities are required t remit taxes levied by the government. Tax preparation can be done by an individual or a professional who is an enrolled agent of the revenue authority. Tax preparation can also be done manually by simply filling forms with the tax data or can be done using software or online services depending on the acceptable mode in the country. The time to be taken in tax preparation varies from country to country. Some of the countries where it takes the longest to prepare and pay tax include Brazil, Bolivia, Nigeria, Libya, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Mauritania among others.

15 Countries Where It Takes The Longest To Prepare And Pay Taxes

Brazil

Brazil is the most time-consuming tax regime in the world. It takes 260 hours for one to prepare, file and pay taxes in Brazil. Brazilian tax system is complicated because of the many duties that are charged. A total of 90 duties, contributions and taxes are being charged, and it is difficult to tell the difference between these duties and taxes. Taxes are grouped into three, federal taxes collected mostly by federal government, state taxes regulated by the state and municipality taxes regulated by the municipality government. However, the majority of Brazilians do not understand criteria used in grouping these taxes, but they must prepare tax returns for the two levels of government.

Nigeria

Nigeria tax system is undergoing massive reforms to enhance efficiency and lower cost enforcement cost. Currently, it takes a tax payer 908 hours to prepare, file and pay taxes in Nigeria. The long hours is attributed to the tax being administered by the three tiers of government which requires taxpayers to file their returns with all the three tiers. Multiple taxes administered by the three tiers of government make it even tedious when filling returns because one has to account for all the taxes.

Libya

Libya ranks just below Nigeria among the countries where tax preparations take long to prepare and remit taxes. On average, it takes 889 hours to prepare, file and pay taxes in Libya. Just like Nigeria, Libya’s tax system is characterized by multiple taxes charged by the central government. Tax preparation and filing is manual, and there are very few agents to help with the tax preparation. The majority of the population do not understand the process of tax filing and preparation and therefore takes a lot of time to complete the already complicated process.

Factors Influencing The Tax Payment Process

Other countries where it takes long to prepare and pay tax include Bolivia (1025 hours), Venezuela (792 hours) Vietnam (770 hours), Mauritania (734 hours), Chad (732 hours), Ecuador (654 hours), Cameroon (630 hours), Senegal (620 hours), Republic of the Congo (602 hours), Pakistan (594 hours), Equatorial Guinea (492 hours) and Gabon 488 hours. The major factors that have contributed to the long hours of tax preparation and payment are the complicated tax preparation process and the several taxes levied on citizens. The long hours for tax preparation have led to most of the taxpayers failing to file their tax return.