Singapore amongst Asia's least complex tax regimes

9 in 10 rate Singapore as having a consistent tax system.

According to the 2014 Deloitte Asia Pacific Tax Complexity Survey Report, for a nation that strives to be amongst the world’s most competitive and business friendly economies, it comes as no surprise that Singapore scored well in a survey on tax complexity, with a high number of respondents indicating that Singapore’ tax environment has a good or high level of consistency and predictability.

The survey noted that Singapore has shown that it is amongst the least complex. 90% of respondents surveyed said Singapore’s tax regime has either not changed much from 3 years ago or has become less complicated.

In the survey, a follow-up to the inaugural 2010 report, one of the key findings this year was that businesses are placing greater focus on consistency in tax policies than complexity and predictability when deciding to enter or exit a market in Asia Pacific. This finding is a reversal of the 2010 study where businesses placed greater emphasis on complexity and predictability of tax policies then.

The survey found out that 93% of the total respondents rated Singapore as having a consistent or very consistent tax regime.

The survey also added that while tax is a key factor for investors in making investment decisions in Asia Pacific, respondents believe that consistency in tax policy is more important than predictability or complexity. According to 85 percent of respondents, tax policy is a high priority when considering investing in the Asia Pacific region. Therefore, achieving this consistency should be carefully considered by governing bodies.