Price Waterhouse recently published its 2010 “Paying Taxes 2010 the Global Picture” which consist of a comparative survey of how easy/difficult is it for an average company to pay tax in 183 countries. So how did Thailand do in this comparative survey?

The indicators used by PWC in this comparative survey are the Time to Comply with tax payments, the Number of Tax Payments and the Tax Cost or Total Tax Rates.

Time to Comply

Thailand ranks 105 out of 183 countries as to the time spend every year to comply with tax requirement.

According PWC study, the total average time spend by a company in Thailand to pay taxes is 264 hours out of which 160 hours are spent preparing payments for the corporate income tax, 48 spend on labor related tax and 56 hours are spent on consumption related tax.

By comparison, a company in Switzerland will spend 63 hour only on tax payments while in the United States 187 hours will be needed (ranks 69) and in the United Kingdom 110 hours will be needed.

Number of Tax Payments

Thailand ranks better when it comes to the average number of tax payments as it ranks 83 out of 183 countries in this regard with a total of 23 tax payments while Switzerland ranks 84 out of 183 with 24 tax payments, the United States ranks 30 with 10 tax payments and the United Kingdom ranks 14 with only 8 tax payments.

If one average the time spends on tax payments per the number of tax payment one would conclude that a company in Thailand spend an average of 11.5 hours per tax payment against 2.5 hours per tax payment in Switzerland, 18.7 hours in the United States and 13.7 hours in the United Kingdom

Total Tax Rates

Finally, Thailand ranks 74 out of 183 countries as to the total tax rate. The total tax rate indicator of PWC measure the amount of all taxes and mandatory contribution borne by a business in the second year of operation expressed as a percentage of commercial profits.

In Thailand the Total Tax Rates is 37% earning Thailand the rank of 74 out of 183 countries. Per comparison Switzerland ranks 37 with a percentage of 29.7%, the United States 118 with a percentage of 46.3% and the United Kingdom 67 with a percentage of 35.9%.

Note: This post is an excerpt of Rene Philippe Dubout next book: “How to Invest Safely Into Thailand” to be published in January 2010

About the Author:

The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.

http//:www.renephilippe.com

Originally posted 2009-12-14 07:15:20.