--- _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' ...