The study, based on data from the World Bank about 178 countries' taxing systems, shows that the Brazilian companies need an average of 2,600 hours every year to pay all the taxes established by the local legislation.

In other words, if a single employee of a company were in charge of such payments, he would have to work eights hours a day for 352 days every year in order to keep up with the taxes.

Brazil is followed by Turkey where 2,085 hours are needed, while it also takes over 1,000 hours to handle all the taxes in Cameroon, Belarus, Armenia, Bolivia, Nigeria and Vietnam.

In the indicator for the amount of taxes paid by enterprises, Brazil holds 24th place, but falls to 158th place in respect of the taxation paid on enterprise's profits, which reach 69 percent.

The World Bank suggested countries that want to improve their tax systems should unify taxes and introduce Internet-based tax payment systems.

Pricewaterhouse Coopers said that the problem in Brazil is not the amount of taxes, but how these affect capital and billing, in contrast to more modern systems concentrating its taxes on rent and merchandise circulation.

On the overall list, Brazil ranked 137th. Among South American countries, Chile leads the ranking, in the 34th position, followed by Brazil, Argentina (147th), Colombia (167th) and Venezuela (174th).