The Director General of Taxation and State Property (DGID), Ludovic Itoua, has shown the “will of his Administration to build the foundations of a participatory, close and equitable tax system. In such a system, he said, everyone must pay the tax according to their ability to contribute”. This statement was made on the occasion of the relaunch of the National Tax Legislature Conference (NTLC), the 7^thedition of which was opened, after several years of eclipse, Wednesday 21 August 2019 in Brazzaville, by Hilaire Mavoungou, Budget Advisor and Interim Director of Cabinet of Minister of Finance and Budget, Calixte Nganongo.

           Indeed, CNLF, Ludovic Itoua recalled, aims at two apparently contradictory objectives, namely: the maximization of tax revenue (sought by the State) and the reduction of the tax burden (desired by taxpayers). To reconcile the positions and remove numerous interpretations of the tax law, CNLF was established in 2000. It is intended to be a meeting, a forum for exchange, which must bring together each other. In this case: the Tax Administration and taxpayers in general, and accounting and tax consulting firms in particular. These taxpayers are the main partners of the Tax Administration.

         This conference aims at mobilizing all tax officers, executives and business men to develop the new tax provisions to be included in the draft finance law. For this meeting (which will take place until Friday, August 23), it is a matter of discussing the tax provisions of the Draft State Budget for the financial year 2020. 

       “This meeting, which is so important for improving our country's business climate, will open exchanges between taxpayers and the tax administration, to prevent the many misunderstandings that so often characterize their relationship. This is another opportunity for taxpayers to discuss issues of interest in-depth following the tour of his Excellency the Minister of Finance and Budget in the divisions of Sangha, Niari and Pointe-Noire at the beginning of this year, to promote dialogue between administrations and partners”, Hilaire Mavoungou said. 

Background  

He also recalled the context in which this conference is being held, particularly at the time of implementation of measures taken by the Government, within the overall framework of the agreement concluded with the international monetary fund (IMF), to enable the diversification of the Congolese economy, in order to strengthen its resilience to external shocks (such the drop in barrel price since 2014). Among these measures are the identification of tax niches allowing a broadening of the tax base, in particular through better mobilization of resources from mining and forestry sectors, as well as those coming from the digital economy; the fight against tax evasion which causes a real loss of revenue to the State in terms of tax revenue; the limitation of disputes in order to promote a normal collection of tax; the fight against tax evasion , which is a form of malpractices vis-à-vis taxation and which will have to be sanctioned in accordance with the regulation in force. “To this end, the solutions put in place by the Ministry of Finance, in particular in the area of information systems, should help mitigate this problem”, Hilaire Mavoungou reassured.

It was a good opportunity for the director general  of taxation to salute, in turn, the efforts of the Government, through the Minister of Finance and Budget, to make enormous sacrifices in order to support the Tax Administration in its noble tasks of establishing, liquidation, collecting and controlling the tax. “By way of illustration, Minister Calixte Nganongo continues, tirelessly, his project of computerization of various structures of the Tax Administration, the interconnection and the improvement of relations with sister administrations such as customs and the Treasury. All of these actions are aimed at improving the performance of the Tax Administration”, Ludovic Itoua said. 

Topics under discussion

Participants of this 7^thConference discussed many topics drawn from the Draft  Reform of the General Tax Code, such as: the taxation of gains and losses of exchange; the clarification of the conditions for deductibility to corporate tax (CT) of advertizing and reception expenses; the extension of the obligation to register purchase orders and orders for oil works; the registration of acts of assignment of interests or rights and obligations in model Production Sharing Contracts (CPP); harmonization of exercise duties and the Value Added Tax (VAT) with the Revised  Guideline of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC).   

Note that on the first day of the work, three groups of participants discussed each around one of the following three topics: Personal income Tax (PIT); and Corporate Tax (CT); Local Lax; VAT and other taxes. 

The Press office of the Ministry of Finance