Taxation trends, rankings and perspectives for Ukraine

Abstract

Findings of the Paying Taxes 2018 and the Ukraine’s performance are analyzed in the paper. The rating is aimed at assessing the ease of payment in 190 countries of the world taking into account four sub-indicators: total tax & contribution rate, time to comply, number of payments, and post-filing index. It is determined that the tax burden in Ukraine for the last year has decreased from 51.9% to 37.8% which made it possible for the country to increase its positions in the rating by 58 places. At the same time, it takes 327.5 hours in 2018 for businesses in Ukraine to spend on filling and submitting reports and paying taxes whereas on average in the world it takes the case study company 240 hours to comply with its taxes. By this sub-indicator, Ukraine occupies only the 159th position among 190 countries. As a result of the research it is found out that one of the promising sub-indicators is the number of tax payments per year: Ukraine ranks 3rd in the world with five payments to be done. By the post-filing index Ukraine holds 42nd position with its value of 85.95 which is a relatively high rank compared to other countries from the Central Asia and Eastern Europe region. Overall, the results of the study testify that compliance with tax rules takes a significant amount of time for businesses. The measures for improving the taxation environment, ease of doing business and Ukraine’s positions in the rating are identified.