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]

Veelgestelde vragen

Gerelateerde landentrofielen

Bronnen

Genummerde verwijzingen die in dit artikel worden aangehaald. Wetten linken naar geconsolideerde teksten in het officiële register.

1. Income Tax Act (Cap. 123)Wetten van Malta · wet
2. Vennootschapsbelasting & restituties - richtlijnenCommissioner for Tax and Customs · autoriteit
3. Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting (ЗКПО)Ministerie van Financiën · wet
4. Inkomstenbelastingwet (N.118(I)/2002)Belastingdienst · wet
5. Wet inzake de speciale bijdrage voor de verdedigingBelastingdienst · wet
6. Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting (Uzņēmumu ienākuma nodokļa likums)likumi.lv - Letse wetgeving · wet
7. Wet op de inkomstenbelasting (Tulumaksuseadus), geconsolideerde Engelse tekstRiigi Teataja - Staatscourant · wet
8. Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting (1996. évi LXXXI. törvény)Nemzeti Jogszabálytár · wet
9. Loonadministratie - inkomstenbelasting en premiesNAV (Belasting- en douanedienst) · autoriteit
10. Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting (Pelno mokesčio įstatymas), geconsolideerde tekste-seimas.lrs.lt - Register van wettelijke handelingen · wet
11. Wet op de inkomstenbelasting (Gyventojų pajamų mokesčio įstatymas), geconsolideerde tekste-seimas.lrs.lt - Register van wettelijke handelingen · wet
12. Bedrijfsbelastingen in DuitslandGermany Trade & Invest (federale instantie) · autoriteit
13. Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG)gesetze-im-internet.de - Federale wet · wet
14. Corporation Tax Act 2010legislation.gov.uk · wet
15. Loonbelasting, sociale premies en dividendenHMRC (GOV.UK) · autoriteit
16. Wet op de vennootschapsbelasting (Selskabsskatteloven)Retsinformation · wet
17. Inkomstenbelastingtarieven en loonadministratieSkattestyrelsen · autoriteit
18. 26 U.S. Code §11 - belasting geheven over vennootschappengovinfo.gov (U.S. GPO) · wet
19. Topic 404 - DividendenIRS · autoriteit