Romania has climbed five positions in PwC’s Paying Taxes index. The country ranks 50th in the 2017 edition of the report, which measures the ease of paying taxes for a typical company in 190 countries around the world.

Romania was on the 55th place in the 2016 edition of the global index.

Romania is better ranked in PwC’s 2017 Paying Taxes report than countries such as the Czech Republic, which jumped from the 122nd position to the 53rd, Slovakia – 56th, Hungary 77th, and Bulgaria – 83rd. However, the neighboring Republic of Moldova outranks Romania, especially as it recorded a spectacular boost from ranking 78th last year to 31st in the 2017 edition.

“This evolution underlines the fact that there is more intense regional competition regarding the ease of paying taxes and reducing the tax burden, and Romania should continue and intensify the rhythm of positive fiscal measures adopted in the past years in order to become a more attractive destination for investors,” stated Mihaela Mitroi, Tax & Legal Services Leader, PwC Romania.

The total tax rate, which measures the share of taxes and contributions paid by a firm as a percentage of profit, was of 38.4% in Romania in this year’s edition, below the EU average (40.3%) and the global one (40.6%).

The report also shows that, when taking into consideration the number of hours necessary to comply with the tax legislation, Romania is one of the best performing states in CEE, with 161 hours per year. By comparison, the EU average is 164 hours, and a global average is 251 hours.

As for the number of tax payments, a company in Romania has to carry out 14 payments every year, compared to the world average of 25.6 payments and the European one of 11.8 payments.

Paying Taxes 2017 measures all mandatory taxes and contributions that a medium-size company must pay in a given year. Taxes and contributions measured include the profit or corporate income tax, social contributions and labour taxes paid by the employer, property taxes, property transfer taxes, dividend tax, capital gains tax, financial transactions tax, waste collection taxes, vehicle and road taxes, and other small taxes or fees.

Find the full report here.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com