In cooperation with the LMU Munich (Prof. Dr. Deborah Schanz and Susann Sturm), Prof. Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane and Thomas Hoppe investigate the complexity of tax systems throughout the world from the perspective of multinational corporations. One purpose of the project is to develop an indicator, which ranks countries with regard to their level of tax complexity. The indicator should not only allow for comparisons across countries, but also assist corporations and tax advisors in investment decision making. From an academic perspective, this project aims to offer profound insights into tax systems throughout the world, which can be used to further improve tax research.
In order to collect the data for the indicator, tax experts from numerous tax advisory firms and networks were asked to complete an online survey. In total, more than 1,000 responses from nearly 150 countries have been received between October and December 2016.
Based on these responses, an executive summary, which covers some preliminary descriptive results, has been prepared. It is available at <link http: www.taxcomplexity.org>www.taxcomplexity.org. In the next step, the responses will be analyzed in more detail and a tax complexity indicator will be developed.