A newly released report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation IFC found Ireland outranked all EU on ease of paying taxes, followed by Denmark, in second place, and Luxembourg, third.

The UK ranked fourth in the EU and 16 globally for ease of paying taxes, followed by The Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, Lithuania, Greece, Belgium, France, Portugal, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, Finland and Hungary, while Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Poland and Romania had the most complex tax regimes.

Paying Taxes 2009, the third report in an annual series, which is expected to engender more dialogue between governments and businesses on improving tax systems, shows tax authorities worldwide are overhauling tax systems by reducing taxes, streamlining administrative processes and modernising payment systems.

In all, the report shows 36 economies made it easier to pay taxes. The most popular reforms were reducing corporate income tax rates (in 21 economies) and improving electronic filing and payments systems efficiency (in 12 economies). On average, corporate income tax accounts for only 13% of tax payments, 26% of compliance time, and 37% of the total tax rate.