Where Taxes Are Quickest

Katherine Mangu-Ward from the February 2007 issue

Nothing is certain but death and taxes, but just how excruciating either will be varies tremendously depending on the method. An October report from the World Bank charts how much time medium-sized companies in various countries spend on their tax returns. In business-friendly Singapore, companies spend just 30 hours a year to prepare, file, and pay their taxes. Ireland is almost as impressive: Enterprises there finish their returns in a speedy 76 hours. Compare that with Belarus, where taxes take 1,188 hours and require companies to file 125 payments annually. Brazil’s Byzantine tax structure takes the cake, though, necessitating 2,800 hours each year of paper pushing and calculator punching.

Graph (not available online): Hours Spent Preparing Taxes