The Easiest And Most Complex Jurisdictions In The World For Accounting And Tax Compliance

Turkey, Brazil, Greece, Argentina and China among the top 10 most complex jurisdictions in the world for accounting and tax compliance. Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, BVI, UAE rank among the easiest.

Turkey is the most complex place in the world for Accounting and Tax compliance, followed by Brazil, Italy, Greece and Vietnam - according to TMF Group's inaugural Financial Complexity Index 2017.

The leading provider of global business and compliance services ranked 94 jurisdictions across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas; 1 being most complex through to 94 the least complex. The Cayman Islands came in at 94 as the least complex place for compliance from an accounting and tax perspective.

In determining the rankings with its in-house accounting and tax experts, TMF Group used four weighted complexity parameters, considering the accounting and tax rules and regulations in different jurisdictions, and risks associated with non-compliance.

TOP 10 MOST COMPLEX JURISDICTIONS FOR ACCOUNTING AND TAX COMPLIANCE

JURISDICTION GLOBAL RANKING Turkey 1 Brazil 2 Italy 3 Greece 4 Vietnam 5 Colombia 6 China 7 Belgium 8 Argentina 9 India 10 MOST COMPLEX BY EACH COMPLEXITY PARAMETER

Most complex Global average Least complex Compliance Greece 78% 60% Cayman Islands 32% Reporting Argentina 88% 55% Curacao 8% Bookkeeping Mexico 84% 51% Cayman Islands 27% Tax Italy 68% 48% UAE 7% Results summary:

Turkey is the most complex jurisdiction overall in which to stay financially compliant largely due to the requirement to report in both Turkish language and currency, and the extremely high number of tax articles, although this is reducing. In Southern Europe both Italy (3) and Greece (4) have very localised complexities. In Italy taxes are levied at a national, regional and municipal level, while in Greece taxes are divided into three categories: income, property and consumption tax. South and Central America has five jurisdictions in the top 15 most complex: Brazil (2), Colombia (6), Argentina (9), Bolivia (12) and Mexico (15). This is largely due to the common practice of levying three layers of taxation, at federal, state and municipal level. Argentina scored the highest of all 94...