Bangladesh's taxpaying system has turned complicated and time-consuming, according to the World Bank's latest report on doing business.

Bangladesh made paying taxes more complicated for companies by increasing the time it takes to prepare VAT and corporate income tax returns, the World Bank said in the report, “Doing Business 2017: Equal Opportunity for All”.

The changes made it more difficult to do business in the country, said the report, which was released on Tuesday. Of the 10 parameters studied in the report, Bangladesh performed the worst in the paying taxes one.

It takes 435 hours or more than 18 days and requires 33 payments in a year to pay all types of taxes including VAT, income tax and corporate tax.

But economies around the world have made paying taxes faster, easier and less costly for businesses -- by offering electronic systems for filing and payment, establishing taxpayer service centres or allowing for more deductions and exemptions.

Many have lowered tax rates. The changes have brought concrete results. Some economies that have simplified tax payment and reduced rates saw their tax revenue rise, the report said.

However, Bangladesh advanced two positions to 176 in the World Bank's overall ranking of the ease of doing business, with the country seeing little improvement in the parameters for resolving insolvency and registering property.

Bangladesh fared poorly in enforcing contracts: the country ranked 189th. It takes 1,442 days, with the cost standing at 67 percent of the claimed money.

In case of property registration, the country was ranked 185th. For registration, it takes 244 days and costs 7 times the property value.

Starting a business in Bangladesh requires nine procedures, takes up 19.5 days and costs 13.8 percent of income per capita, according to the report.

It said access to reliable and affordable electricity is vital for businesses.  To counter weak electricity supply, many firms in developing economies have to rely on self-supply, often at a prohibitively high cost.

Whether electricity is reliably available or not, the first step for a customer is always to gain access by obtaining a connection.

But in Bangladesh it takes almost 429 days to get electricity, according to the WB study. Bangladesh lags behind India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The report said Bangladesh made getting electricity more difficult by imposing a freeze on new electricity connections from April 2010 to March 2011 because of supply shortage. This freeze has led to long delays for customers and has increased the time to obtain an electricity connection.

Besides, all customers are required to meet 7 percent of their electricity needs through solar energy, making it necessary to install solar panels -- a condition that has made getting the connection more difficult.

Dealing with construction permits in Bangladesh requires 14.2 procedures, takes 269.0 days and costs 2.7 percent of the warehouse value.

Bangladesh is, however, ahead of India and Pakistan in this parameter but lags behind Sri Lanka.

Getting loans is not smooth: Bangladesh came 157 out of 190 economies on the ease of getting credit. It is lagging behind Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.