World Bank survey points to major improvements in Mexico’s tax environment

November 2015

Published annually, the World Bank Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 189 economies worldwide.

The latest report, Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency, shows Mexico moving from 42nd to 38th place in terms of the easiest countries in which to do business, and up 11 places (from 103 to 92) in rankings of the country’s tax regime.

Member firms of the Russell Bedford International accounting network, including Russell Bedford México, contributed data to the report’s Paying Taxes survey. The new Paying Taxes report highlights the importance of electronic filing, citing more than 85 per cent of jurisdictions in Europe now allowing online submissions, in contrast to less than 30 per cent in 2006.

Mexico’s improved tax environment can be traced to a major reduction in the time businesses are having to spend on their tax compliance, down from 334 hours last year to 286 now: attributable to the elimination of the Business Flat Tax (IETU) and the greater availability of extensive electronic filing facilities, with corporate income tax, employers’ social security contributions, payroll, property, vehicle taxes and VAT all now payable online.

Russell Bedford México managing partner Jorge Jiménez commented: “It is gratifying to see Mexico’s improved tax environment recognised in this way. However, while considerably better than the average 361 hours per year recorded in other Latin American countries, Mexico’s performance still falls far short of the 176.6 hours recorded in the OECD countries. Further reform is clearly needed if Mexico is to become genuinely competitive worldwide.”