The report, which has been produced over the last eight years, factors in the time taken to pay taxes, the overall tax rate, and the number of payments medium-sized firms were required to take.
The UK’S tax system ranked just 16th in the world in 2012 even after climbing the table for the first time in seven years.
Frank Strachan, tax partner for Edwin Coe said: "The report demonstrates that the Government initiatives to make the UK an attractive place to do business are working but there is still much to do. The Government should be driving further to put the UK in a position whereby it can be regarded as one of the best tax regimes in the world. A good start…but there is still more to do."
On average a medium sized company pays a total tax rate of 44.7% of profits, makes 27.2 payments, and spends 267 hours to comply with its tax requirements, the report found.
In eight years, the time to comply has fallen by 54 hours, almost seven working days, and the number of payments has declined by more than six.
Andrew Sentance, senior economic adviser to PwC, said: “Our analysis suggests that reducing the complexity of business taxation and its overall burden can boost economic growth. That means tax reform aimed at providing a simpler and more efficient tax regime for business should be high up the agenda in the UK and other economies.”
The PwC ‘World Bank and IFC Paying Taxes’ study compared tax systems across 185 economies.
Click here to see all the countries in the top twenty tax systems of the world.
