New Zealand is rated 22nd out of 189 economies in its ease of paying taxes, according to Paying Taxes 2015, now in its ninth edition. The unique study by PwC and the World Bank Group is the only piece of research which measures the ease of paying taxes by assessing time required for a case study company to: prepare, file and pay its taxes, the number of taxes that it has to pay, the method of that payment and the total tax liability as a percentage of its commercial profits.
PwC’s Tax and Private Business Leader Geof Nightingale says, “New Zealand’s 22nd placing out of 189 shows we have coherent tax policy settings, with no immediate or radical shifts in policy required for our country. However, there is little risk of New Zealand becoming complacent. Inland Revenue’s (IR) briefing to its returning Minister Hon. Todd McClay last week made it clear IR’s Business Transformation Project is a key priority.
“As we look to our major trading partners, the easier and less costly for a company to pay tax here, the more likely this will encourage and help to attract both domestic and international investment to our economy.
“We expect Paying Taxes 2015 to be a catalyst for some interesting debate with tax authorities, governments, and business around tax systems and how they can be reformed, providing illustrations of successful reforms and also where reform has been more of a challenge,” says Mr Nightingale.
New Zealand has risen one place from last year’s study (from 23rd place), and ranked behind Singapore who came in at 5th and the 16th ranked UK, yet ahead of most other major trading partners including Australia at 39th, the US at 47th and China and Japan, on 120th and 122nd respectively.
