Evaluating impacts on costs on SMEs

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Scope

Do the additional administrative costs weigh in relative terms heavily on SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)?[1]

Description

Large firms are in a relatively better position to absorb administrative and compliance costs than SMEs. Although regulations affect the private sector as a whole, their compliance costs weigh most heavily on smaller firms because of their limited administrative resources, uncertain cash flows, limited understanding of their rights in relation to, for example, tax matters. Complying with regulations can be relatively easy for large corporations that have dedicated in-house tax specialists and human resources staff, but for many small enterprises the situation can be very different.

Examining the costs of administrative compliance in almost 8 000 SMEs, an OECD report found that compliance costs per employee were over five times higher for the smallest SMEs than for the largest.[1]

Result

Further information

EC related information:

Other information:

Indicators

There are no Eurostat Structural or Sustainable Development Indicators directly related to this key question

Relvant data is available through the OECD Publications database:

OECD: Businesses' Views on Red Tape -Administrative and Regulatory Burdens on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises-. The data show how small and medium-sized enterprises perceive national administrative and regulatory costs.

Commission staff can subscribe to OLISnet by filling in the subscription form to have access to this publication and to related individual country studies.[1]

See also

IA TOOLS

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 JRC: IA TOOLS. Supporting inpact assessment in the European Commission.[1]

This text is for information only and is not designed to interpret or replace any reference documents.