Tax Administrations and Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries

The goal of tax administration is to foster voluntary compliance with tax laws. But many tax administrations in developing countries are plagued by burdensome reporting and inspection requirements, costly and duplicative structures, lack of transparency, and inadequate controls to counter corruption among tax officials. This harms firms and drives many to under-report profits or join the underground economy. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are hurt disproportionately by inefficient tax regimes.

This guide offers tools to assess the developmental stage of a country’s tax administration system, best practices and benchmarks in modern tax administration, and tips for implementing key reforms. It includes examples of reform measures that can cut the burden of tax on SMEs.

Download the toolkit (PDF, 170KB) and Annexes (PDF, 2.4MB).