Heads of tax at companies across Europe want to see more certainty and greater simplicity in their country's tax legislation, according to a report from Deloitte which identifies the UK as one of the top two tax jurisdictions for inward investment.

The firm's survey of 1,000 European company tax directors found that getting on for half (44%) thought more certainty about the future of the tax system, followed by simplification of the tax system (36%) were the two most important changes to their country's tax legislation to increase commercial competitiveness.

When asked about the challenges they face doing business in Europe, the majority of respondents (61%) thought it was due to a high degree of tax uncertainty in their own country. They cited frequent changes to legislation (75%), and ambiguity, weakness and reversals in the tax authorities' doctrine of publicly available guidance (50%) as the main issues they faced.

Andrew Hodge, head of tax at Deloitte in the UK, said: 'Of course, there is major change coming soon with the OECD's objective of providing comprehensive, balanced and effective strategies for countries concerned with base erosion and profit shifting, and this inevitably adds further uncertainty even if the goals of the OECD are well understood.'

Deloitte's survey found that the UK (31%) and Netherlands (40%) are seen as the preferred large tax jurisdictions in Europe for inward investment. When asked which were the most challenging and difficult countries for their business to operate in, over a quarter of respondents (28%) selected Russia, a fifth chose Italy and only 6.5% nominated the United Kingdom.