Corporation Tax Index

1. Comoros       

2021 Corporate Tax Rate: 50.00%

Comoros is a volcanic archipelago off of Africa’s East coast, in the warm water of the Indian Ocean, specifically in the Mozambique Channel. The nation’s largest island is Grande Comore. As of 2021, Comoros’ tax rate is set to 50%, meaning that a huge chunk of a larger company’s profits and gains would end up being paid as taxes. This is the highest corporate tax rate in the world currently.

2. Suriname      

2021 Corporate Tax Rate: 36.00%

A small country on the Northeastern coast of South America, Suriname is defined by its vast tropical rainforests and Dutch colonial architecture. With a corporate tax rate of 36% as of 2021, it is the second-highest in the world.

3. Argentina, Chad, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Malta, Sudan & Zambia

2021 Corporate Tax Rate: 35.00%

Here, we have an eight-way tie for the country with the third-highest corporate tax rate in the world. Five of these countries are located on the continent of Africa, Argentina is in South America, Cuba in the Caribbean and Malta in Europe. These eight countries, as of 2021, have a corporate tax rate of 35%.

1. Maldives                    

Corporate Tax Rate 2012: 0% | Corporate Tax Rate 2021: 15% | 10-Year Corporate Tax Difference: 15%

The country with the largest increase in its corporate tax rate is the Maldives. An archipelago state, located in the South of Asia, the Maldives is in the Indian Ocean. In 2012, this country did not in fact have a corporate tax rate. However, as of 2021, it has a corporate tax rate of 15%, making it the biggest increase in the world over the past 10 years.

2. Jordan           

Corporate Tax Rate 2012: 14% | Corporate Tax Rate 2021: 20% | 10-Year Corporate Tax Difference: 6%

Jordan, located in the Middle East, is coincidentally located on the Eastern bank of the Jordan River. The country is defined by its ancient monuments and nature reserves. Over the past ten years, corporate tax has increased by 6% in the country. With it having been 14% in 2012, it now sits at 20%, making it the second-largest increase globally.

3. Latvia 

Corporate Tax Rate 2012: 15% | Corporate Tax Rate 2021: 20% | 10-Year Corporate Tax Difference: 5%

Latvia, located on the coast of the Baltic sea between Lithuania and Estonia, has had the largest corporate tax increase in Europe in the past decade. In 2012, its corporate tax rate was 15%, though by 2021 it had risen to 20% for a total increase of 5%.

Bahamas, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates & Vanuatu – Corporate Tax Rate 2021: 0.00%

There are some countries that do not charge corporate taxes and there is a specific phrase for them: tax havens. Tax havens are typically politically and economically stable states that, due to their stability, offer little to no tax liability for corporations. However, customs and import fees are usually higher in these countries to account for it.

The countries in our rankings that don’t impose such taxes are, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Vanuatu and the United Arab Emirates, among others not in this ranking. As such, that would make these countries rather ideal for companies, especially those that aren’t established, corporate giants.

Corporate Tax Rate 2012: 24% | Corporate Tax Rate 2021: 19% |  10-Year Corporate Tax Difference: -5%

Taxes paid by companies in the UK have changed to some extent over the past decade. In 2005, the corporate tax rate in the UK was set at 30%. However, in 2021, companies are paying less in corporation tax with the rate now being set to just 19%. This also means that the UK has the 39th lowest corporation tax rate in the world, lower than even Switzerland (19.7%) and the United States (25.75%).

Furthermore, the UK ranks 22nd for the biggest corporation tax decreases in the world, over the past decade ranging from 2012-2021. But, compared to Microsoft, the company giant that paid the most taxes in 2021, their effective rates are different. The UK’s corporate tax rate of 19% is quite a bit higher than the 9.7% Microsoft paid on their $33.7 billion earnings, before tax.

1. Microsoft Corp.        

Income Tax Expense 2021: $3,300,000,000 | £2,725,635,000 | €3,168,462,000

The huge American tech giant, Microsoft, comes in first as the company that paid the most in taxes. People will know the iconic Windows sound as you boot up their PC operating system, their creation of the Xbox, and of course, Office. Despite paying $3.3 billion in taxes, this only equates to a 9.7% tax on their profits for 2021. With that context, it doesn’t seem that much at all.

2. JPMorgan Chase & Co.       

Income Tax Expense 2021: $2,900,000,000 | £2,395,255,000 | €2,784,406,000

Yet another giant American corporation, JPMorgan is a multinational banking, investment and financial holdings company, headquartered in New York City. It is the largest bank in the United States and the world’s largest bank by market capitalisation. In 2021, they paid $2.9 billion in corporation tax, however, this is just 5.9% of their total profits for the year.

3. Amazon.com Inc.     

Income Tax Expense 2021: $2,100,000,000 | £1,734,495,000 | €2,016,294,000

The company owned by Jeffrey Preston Bezos, yes that is his middle name, Amazon paid the third most in taxes for 2021. Amazon, as you should know, is a company focused on e-commerce, though they have now branched out with their Prime Video streaming service and Alexa, their A.I. assistant. $2.1 billion is the amount they paid in corporate tax, which again is a mere 6.1% of their total profits for that same year.

Methodology

To begin with, we used the Tax Foundation’s report to get the 2021 tax rates for a vast number of countries, correct as of December 9th, 2021. We also took the tax rates for 2012, to be able to calculate the ten-year increase in corporate tax in those countries. We also used World Population Review to get the populations of developed countries, using those countries to narrow down the results.

We then used American Progress to get the amount of tax, profits and effective tax rates for some of the biggest companies in the world, which is dated 26/04/2022. Finally, we ranked each one on their total tax contributions for 2021.