---
_id: '14909'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: This paper introduces an index that captures the complexity of countries’
corporate income tax systems faced by multinational corporations. It is based
on surveys of highly experienced tax consultants of the largest international
tax services networks. The index, called the Tax Complexity Index (TCI), is composed
of a tax code subindex covering tax regulations and a tax framework subindex covering
tax processes and features. For a sample of 100 countries for the year 2016, we
find that the level of tax complexity varies considerably across countries, while
tax code and framework complexity also vary within countries. From a global perspective,
tax complexity is strongly driven by the complexity of both transfer pricing regulations
in the tax code and tax audits in the tax framework. When analyzing the associations
with other country characteristics, we identify different correlation patterns.
For example, tax framework complexity is negatively associated with countries’
governance, suggesting that strongly governed countries tend to have less complex
tax frameworks, while tax code complexity is positively associated with the statutory
tax rate, indicating that high tax countries tend to have more complex tax codes.
However, none of the observed associations are very strong. We conclude that tax
complexity represents a distinct country characteristic and propose the use of
our TCI and its subindices in future research.
author:
- first_name: Thomas
full_name: Hoppe, Thomas
id: '22671'
last_name: Hoppe
- first_name: Deborah
full_name: Schanz, Deborah
last_name: Schanz
- first_name: Susann
full_name: Sturm, Susann
last_name: Sturm
- first_name: Caren
full_name: Sureth-Sloane, Caren
id: '530'
last_name: Sureth-Sloane
citation:
ama: 'Hoppe T, Schanz D, Sturm S, Sureth-Sloane C. Measuring Tax Complexity Across
Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs.; 2019. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3469663'
apa: 'Hoppe, T., Schanz, D., Sturm, S., & Sureth-Sloane, C. (2019). Measuring
Tax Complexity Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3469663'
bibtex: '@book{Hoppe_Schanz_Sturm_Sureth-Sloane_2019, title={Measuring Tax Complexity
Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs}, DOI={10.2139/ssrn.3469663},
author={Hoppe, Thomas and Schanz, Deborah and Sturm, Susann and Sureth-Sloane,
Caren}, year={2019} }'
chicago: 'Hoppe, Thomas, Deborah Schanz, Susann Sturm, and Caren Sureth-Sloane.
Measuring Tax Complexity Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs, 2019.
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3469663.'
ieee: 'T. Hoppe, D. Schanz, S. Sturm, and C. Sureth-Sloane, Measuring Tax Complexity
Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs. 2019.'
mla: 'Hoppe, Thomas, et al. Measuring Tax Complexity Across Countries: A Survey
Study on MNCs. 2019, doi:10.2139/ssrn.3469663.'
short: 'T. Hoppe, D. Schanz, S. Sturm, C. Sureth-Sloane, Measuring Tax Complexity
Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs, 2019.'
date_created: 2019-11-13T08:35:50Z
date_updated: 2022-01-06T06:52:11Z
ddc:
- '330'
department:
- _id: '187'
- _id: '635'
doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3469663
file:
- access_level: closed
content_type: application/pdf
creator: hoppet
date_created: 2019-11-13T08:38:31Z
date_updated: 2019-11-13T08:38:31Z
file_id: '14912'
file_name: SSRN-id3469663.pdf
file_size: 1187488
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2019-11-13T08:38:31Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
jel:
- H20
- H25
- C83
- O57
keyword:
- Tax Complexity
- Tax Index
- Tax System
- Multinational Corporations
- Tax Consultants
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- url: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3469663
status: public
title: 'Measuring Tax Complexity Across Countries: A Survey Study on MNCs'
type: working_paper
user_id: '61801'
year: '2019'
...