Corporate Tax Rates Explained

What a corporate tax rate measures

A corporate income tax rate is the headline percentage a government levies on company profits. It is a statutory figure: the effective rate a company actually pays depends on allowances, group reliefs, incentives and how profit is calculated.

The global range

Across the jurisdictions tracked on taxesmap.app, headline corporate rates span a wide band:

• 0% — Cayman Islands, Monaco (most companies)
• 9% — United Arab Emirates (above an AED 1m threshold), Hungary
• 12.5% — Ireland (trading income)
• 15% — Germany (federal rate)
• 16.5% — Hong Kong
• 17% — Singapore
• 21% — United States, Portugal
• 25% — United Kingdom
• 25.8% — Netherlands

Switzerland varies by canton, roughly 11.85%–21%.

The Pillar 2 minimum

The OECD’s Pillar 2 framework introduces a 15% global minimum effective tax for multinational groups with consolidated revenue of €750 million or more. Jurisdictions like the UAE and Bermuda have introduced domestic top-up taxes to align. For large multinationals this compresses the advantage of very low headline rates — though smaller and purely domestic companies still pay the statutory rate in full.

Why rates differ

Low-rate hubs use corporate tax to attract investment and headquarters; higher-rate economies fund broader public spending. Headline rate alone rarely tells the whole story — base, incentives and treaty access all shape the real cost.

Data basis: Government tax authority data via taxesmap.app, as of 2026