The total tax burden on distributed profit: 29 countries ranked (2026)

How the numbers are calculated

Total = corporate income tax + dividend tax × (1 − corporate rate): the company pays tax on its profit, distributes the rest, and the owner - a resident individual - pays dividend tax on what arrives. The table uses standard regimes and the top statutory dividend band; small-company rates and special regimes appear in the notes and the list below. Estonia, Latvia and Malta do not fit the classical pattern, so their rows state what actually happens there.

^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Every rate above is documented, with links to the underlying law, on the country profile - the sources below cover the rows quoted most often.

Three clusters

Three patterns explain most of the table. Distribution-based systems (Estonia, Latvia) charge nothing until profit leaves the company and nothing extra when it reaches the owner. In the low flat-rate countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania) both layers are small. Classical systems in the west and north stack a full corporate tax and a full personal capital-income tax - which is how Germany, France, the UK and Denmark all end up near or above 50%.

Malta is its own category: the statutory rate is the EU’s highest at 35%, but the shareholder refund of 6/7 of the tax on distributed trading profit brings the effective burden to about 5%, the lowest in this table.^[1][2]

The small-company picture

For an owner-managed company the standard rates are often not the ones that matter. The best totals come from small-company regimes:

• Lithuania, start-up relief: 0% corporate tax for the first two years + 15% dividends = 15% total (income ≤ €300,000, individual shareholders).
• Slovakia, revenue up to €100,000: 10% + 7% = 16.3% total.
• Romania, micro-enterprise: 1% of turnover + 16% dividends - under 20% total for a high-margin business (turnover ≤ €100,000, at least one employee).
• Croatia, revenue up to €1m: 10% + 12% = 20.8% total.
• Lithuania, small companies: 7% + 15% = 21.0% total.
• Poland, small taxpayers: 9% + 19% = 26.3% total.
• UK, small profits with a basic-rate owner: 19% + 10.75% = 27.7% total.^{[10][11][14][15]}

What the ranking hides

Dividend taxes are often progressive, so the table shows the top band: a UK basic-rate taxpayer pays 10.75%, not 39.35%, and Denmark taxes the first DKK 79,400 a year at 27%, not 42%. Several countries also leave the first slice of dividends untaxed or taxed at a lower band.^[15][17]

Some costs sit outside the table: Hungary adds a 13% social contribution on dividends up to an annual cap and a local business tax of up to 2% of revenue; Romania can add a health contribution; the US and German figures depend on state and municipal rates. The table also assumes the owner lives where the company is - a foreign owner pays the home country’s dividend tax instead, subject to withholding taxes and treaties.^[9][12]

Usein kysytyt kysymykset

Aiheeseen liittyvät maaprofiilit

Lähteet

Numeroidut viitteet, joihin tässä artikkelissa viitataan. Lait on linkitetty virallisen rekisterin konsolidoituihin teksteihin.

1. Tuloverolaki (luku 123)Maltan lait · laki
2. Yhteisövero ja palautukset - ohjeetVerohallinto (Commissioner for Tax and Customs) · viranomainen
3. Yhteisöverolaki (ЗКПО)Valtiovarainministeriö · laki
4. Tuloverolaki (N.118(I)/2002)Veroviranomainen · laki
5. PuolustusverolakiVeroviranomainen · laki
6. Yhteisöverolaki (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums)likumi.lv - Latvian lainsäädäntö · laki
7. Tuloverolaki (Tulumaksuseadus), konsolidoitu englanninkielinen tekstiRiigi Teataja – Virallinen lehti · laki
8. Yhteisöverolaki (1996. évi LXXXI. törvény)Nemzeti Jogszabálytár · laki
9. Palkanlaskenta: tulovero ja maksutNAV (vero- ja tullihallinto) · viranomainen
10. Laki yhteisöverosta (Pelno mokesčio įstatymas), konsolidoitu tekstie-seimas.lrs.lt - Oikeudellisten säädösten rekisteri · laki
11. Laki ansiotuloverosta (Gyventojų pajamų mokesčio įstatymas), konsolidoitu tekstie-seimas.lrs.lt - Oikeudellisten säädösten rekisteri · laki
12. Corporate taxation in GermanyGermany Trade & Invest (liittovaltion virasto) · viranomainen
13. Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG)gesetze-im-internet.de - Liittovaltion laki · laki
14. Corporation Tax Act 2010legislation.gov.uk · laki
15. Ennakonpidätys (PAYE), sosiaaliturvamaksut ja osingotHMRC (GOV.UK) · viranomainen
16. Elinkeinoverolaki (Selskabsskatteloven)Retsinformation · laki
17. Tuloveroprosentit ja palkatSkattestyrelsen · viranomainen
18. 26 U.S. Code §11 - yhteisöille määrättävä verogovinfo.gov (U.S. GPO) · laki
19. Aihe 404 - OsingotIRS · viranomainen