The report, 'Paying Taxes - The Global Picture,' by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the World Bank, concludes that high corporate income tax rates do not always lead to higher overall revenues, and that governments should take a view of total business taxes when considering rates, not just the corporate income tax rate.

The report suggests that simpler tax administration and collection systems can produce a "win-win" scenario for both government and business by making compliance easier. This would be of particular benefit in emerging nations where the informal economy tends to be larger and tax evasion more common.

According to the repot, the lowest tax rates are to be found in the Middle East and North Africa and highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where a company on average pays over 60% of its profits as tax. However, complying with administrative tax requirements was found to be a substantial burden for companies in most countries.

On average in the 175 economies studied, businesses submit 35 pages of tax returns a year in order to comply with regulations, although the size of tax returns varies hugely by country. For example, a business in Cameroon must tackle a 172 page monster, while companies in Austria get away with a relatively painless 17 page return.

The report also discovered that worldwide, it takes on average 332 hours per year for businesses to comply with all tax requirements, but this, too, varied widely: Brazilian tax filers slave for an average of 2,600 hours to complete a business return, while in Switzerland it takes on average a breezy 68 hours.

The new study also expanded on a previous World Bank report to find the true extent of all businesses taxes, not just corporate tax. The findings suggest that, on average, corporate income taxes accounted for only 36% of the total tax rate, 11% of the number of payments made, and 25% of the compliance time represented by a company’s total tax rate. To appreciate the full extent of the company tax burden, the report said that governments and businesses should look at other taxes such as employment and property levies and their associated compliance costs.

“Companies need to raise awareness of the wider contribution they make to society and the costs they bear," commented Richard Collier-Keywood, United Kingdom head of tax at PwC.

He added:

"Greater transparency about the total tax contribution and tax policy decisions made by companies, both locally and on a global scale, will help create a better picture of the economic contribution that the private sector makes to public finances.

“This will create a better platform for dialogue between governments and companies on the contributions made and will help inform tax policy."