Uzbekistan's position in "Paying taxes 2019" revealed
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Uzbekistan took 64th place in the Paying Taxes 2019 tax rating, which is conducted by PwC in cooperation with the World Bank, Uzbek media reports.
According to the study, the total tax rate of Uzbekistan is 32.1 percent, which represents the proportion of taxes and contributions to the company's profits.
If we compare this indicator with other jurisdictions, it is lower than the average for the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe (32.8 percent), and also significantly lower than the average for the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (40.2 percent).
In terms of the annual amount of time required to comply with tax laws, Uzbekistan’s indicator (181 hours) is inferior to OECD countries (162 hours), but it is ahead of most of the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe (the average for the region is 220 hours).
Another comparative indicator of the study is the number of tax payments per year. This indicator for Uzbekistan is 10. For the countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, this figure is 16 payments, while for OECD countries - 11 payments. The world average is 24 payments per year.
According to the study, as many as 163 countries in the world use the VAT system. The best indicators on the rate of VAT refund are noted in the countries of the EU, which distinguishes them from the countries of Central America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Uzbekistan’s figure was 48.2 (out of 100), while the top 3 countries in the region of Central Asia and Eastern Europe (the name of the region according to the World Bank) included: Serbia - 91.1, Moldova - 90.8, and Ukraine - 86.
Among Uzbek neighbors, Kazakhstan ranked 56th, Azerbaijan - 28th, Tajikistan - 136th, Russia - 53rd, Kyrgyzstan - 150th, Armenia - 82nd.
The smallest taxes on profits are paid by businessmen in Brunei (8 percent), Vanuatu (8.5 percent), Georgia (9.9 percent), Qatar (11.3 percent), Kuwait and Macedonia (13 percent).
The largest tax burden is in the Comoros (219.6 percent), in Argentina (106 percent), Bolivia and Eritrea (83.7 percent each), Equatorial Guinea (79.4 percent), Palau (75.8 percent), Central African Republic (73.3 percent), Colombia (71.9 percent) and Afghanistan (71.4 percent).
Paying Taxes continues to be a unique study from PwC and the World Bank Group, which investigates and compares tax regimes across 190 economies worldwide using a medium-sized domestic case study company.
Paying Taxes looks at how new tax software, real time reporting systems and data analytics are changing the way companies meet their tax compliance obligations and how tax authorities monitor and enforce those obligations in 2019.
Paying Taxes considers the balance between labour and income taxes, as economies consider the impact of the changes to the nature of work and the impact this has on revenue streams. And we look at some of the different approaches taken by tax authorities to tax audits and to the provision of training for both tax auditors and taxpayers.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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