The Optimal Turnover Threshold and Tax Rate for SMEs
The Optimal Turnover Threshold and Tax Rate for SMEs

Author: Feng Wei

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-05-07

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13: 1498314260

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Presumptive income taxes in the form of a tax on turnover for SMEs are pervasive as a way to reduce the costs of compliance and administration. We analyze a model where entrepreneurs allocate labor to the formal and informal sectors. Formal sector income is subjected either to a corporate income tax or a tax on turnover, depending on whether their turnover exceeds a threshold. We characterize the private sector equilibrium for any given configuration of tax policy parameters (corporate income tax rate, turnover tax rate, and threshold). Given private behavior, social welfare is optimized. We interpret the first-order conditions for welfare maximization to identify the key margins and then simulate a calibrated version of the model.

A Firm Lower Bound: Characteristics and Impact of Corporate Minimum Taxation
A Firm Lower Bound: Characteristics and Impact of Corporate Minimum Taxation

Author: Aqib Aslam

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2021-06-08

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1513561073

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This paper examines the role of minimum taxes and attempts to quantify their impact on economic activity. Minimum taxes can be effective at shoring up the corporate tax base and enhancing the perceived equity of the tax system, potentially motivating broader taxpayer compliance. Where political and administrative constraints prevent reforms to the standard corporate income tax, a minimum tax can help mitigate base erosion from excessive tax incentives and avoidance. Using a new panel dataset that catalogues changes in minimum tax regimes over time around the world, firm-level analysis suggests that the introduction or reform of a minimum tax is associated with an increase in the average effective tax rate of just over 1.5 percentage points with respect to turnover and of around 10 percent with respect to operating income. Minimum taxes based on modified corporate income lead to the largest increases in effective tax rates, followed by those based on assets and turnover.

Peru: Technical Assistance Report-Tax Regime for Small Taxpayers and Special Economic Zones
Peru: Technical Assistance Report-Tax Regime for Small Taxpayers and Special Economic Zones

Author: International Monetary

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2022-02-11

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13:

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The topics discussed in this report are tax regimes for small taxpayers (Chapter II) and the tax treatment of special economic zones (Chapter III). Although these aspects of the tax system have little direct effect on public finances, they affect many people and how those people make decisions or impact the positioning of certain regions relative to the rest of the country. Both are of social and political scope that is disproportionate to their magnitude of tax revenue collection, which is why their design must remain focused in its most strategic sense.

Lebanon
Lebanon

Author: International Monetary

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-01-13

Total Pages: 79

ISBN-13:

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Lebanon’s tax revenue more than halved between 2019 and 2021, in the face of the deepest economic crisis since the end of the civil war. This report identifies tax policy reform options to stop the drain on Lebanon’s tax revenue in the immediate and near-terms and to move toward a more efficient, effective, and inclusive tax system in the medium-term.

How to Design a Presumptive Income Tax for Micro and Small Enterprises
How to Design a Presumptive Income Tax for Micro and Small Enterprises

Author: Jean-François Wen

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-06-29

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13:

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Turnover taxes are prevalent in developing countries as a simple form of presumptive taxation of business income. Such simplified tax regimes can reduce the relatively high compliance costs of micro and small enterprises, which might otherwise discourage entrepreneurs from formalizing their activities and paying taxes. The note addresses design issues for a turnover tax regime—which taxes it replaces, what the criteria are for eligibility, how to determine the optimal threshold, and how to set the tax rate. A key observation is that, although low turnover tax rates may incite larger firms to artificially reduce their sales, the rate should also not be so high as to discourage formalization of activities. A table of tax rates and turnover thresholds observed internationally is provided. The note concludes by suggesting analytical steps to guide practitioners in designing turnover tax regimes.

Albania: Technical Assistance Report-Tax Policy Reform Options for the MTRS
Albania: Technical Assistance Report-Tax Policy Reform Options for the MTRS

Author: International Monetary

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2022-02-17

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13:

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Albania is preparing a Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS) to finance its development spending of an estimated 2.2–3.0 percent of GDP over five years. Revenue mobilization will be supported by comprehensive tax policy and administration reforms. International and regional comparisons suggest that there is room for additional revenues as well as improvement in the composition of tax revenues. This report presents options for tax policy reform to raise at least an additional 1.34 percent of GDP in revenues over five years and to improve the quality and efficiency of the tax system, that will enable the mobilization of further domestic revenues.

Designing a Presumptive Income Tax Based on Turnover in Countries with Large Informal Sectors
Designing a Presumptive Income Tax Based on Turnover in Countries with Large Informal Sectors

Author: Feng Wei

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-12-22

Total Pages: 47

ISBN-13:

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Turnover (sales) is frequently used in developing countries as a presumptive income tax base, to economize on the costs of tax administration and taxpayer compliance. We construct a simple model where a size threshold separates firms paying turnover tax from those paying profit tax (regular income tax), and where firms have the option of producing in the untaxed, informal sector. The optimal turnover tax rate trades off two policy concerns: reducing informality and avoiding strategic reductions in sales by firms seeking to remain below the threshold for the profit tax. We provide analytical results and calibrate the model to compute the optimal policy using realistic parameter values. The optimal turnover tax rate for countries with large informal sectors is found to be around 2.5% across most scenarios, while the threshold separating the turnover tax regime from profit tax lies for the most part between $65,000 and $95,000. Introducing an optimally designed turnover tax reduces the rate of informality of businesses by about 12 percentage points in the calibrated model.

Brazil: Tax Expenditure Rationalization Within Broader Tax Reform
Brazil: Tax Expenditure Rationalization Within Broader Tax Reform

Author: Maria Delgado Coelho

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2021-09-24

Total Pages: 46

ISBN-13: 1513596624

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The excessive complexity and burden of the Brazilian tax system, riddled by cumulative indirect taxes and heavy payroll contributions, have led to an accumulation of fiscal incentives aimed at reducing its burden on taxpayers and productive activities. Federal and subnational tax expenditures currently stand at over 5 percent of GDP. Rationalizing them can only be comprehensively feasible in the context of a broader sequenced tax reform, and could reduce resource misallocation and income inequality, as well as provide new revenues.

Maldives
Maldives

Author: International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 1498323383

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This report reviews tax policy in the Maldives and identifies reform options to support efficiency, equity, and revenue. The absence of a broad-based personal income tax (PIT) generates revenue leakages and significantly diminishes the role of tax policy in income redistribution. A modern tax design requires a holistic view of the taxation of different sources of income and different legal forms of taxpayers to maintain tax neutrality, to the extent possible, while preserving some degrees of progressivity, simplicity, and administrability. Moreover, updating the tax system to cope with recent international developments is vital to safeguard revenues. While strengthening the goods and services tax (GST) can raise revenues in the short- to medium-term, a property tax is an important option for the long-term. The diagram below demonstrates reform priorities, as identified in this report, to modernize tax policy in the Maldives.