Accountants cheer the UK and the Netherlands for simple tax rules
European tax experts say that despite rule changes, Britain has one of the clearest systems
Tax professionals view the Netherlands and the UK as the most attractive European countries in which to do business, according to a new survey.
The two countries scored well on how simple their tax rules are, the transparency of the authorities and the focus on enabling businesses to grow, in a poll of 800 people by Deloitte.
The finding comes despite research last week by the World Bank and PwC that placed the UK’s tax system below Macedonia for ease of use.
“The UK appears to be genuinely business friendly with many tax inspectors having a reasonable grasp of commercial issues and willing to take a pragmatic approach. More could always be done, however,” said one respondent based in the UK.
Russia and Italy were highlighted in the Deloitte survey as the most difficult major economies in Europe to carry out tax work. Italy’s VAT return form, for example, has more than 500 boxes, compared with nine in the UK, and respondents flagged up lengthy audits and complex rules.
More than half of the tax professionals reported growing interest from shareholders when it came to tax strategy, yet 77pc said they had not been asked by external stakeholders to justify their tax practices in the past year and 60pc had not been challenged internally.
Source: Deloitte
Four in five in the UK said they were increasingly in the spotlight on tax issues, the highest response rate in Europe.
The OECD has spent more than a year working to curb profit-shifting practices, in which firms move earnings from the country where they are generated to take advantage of lower tax rates elsewhere. The G20 has also pledged to crack down on tax avoidance by companies and individuals.
Just over half of tax staff in Europe said the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) rules were seen as important in their department, rising to 80pc in the UK.
