The central African country of Cameroon wants to raise money from its 23 million phone users and it is doing so by way of taxes. A cascade of digital taxes, it may be called. After introducing Facebook ads tax, the country’s government has added mobile devices and application downloads to the list.
“A lot of people in this country don’t even have jobs. Many of them are working using their phones to make ends meet, and you want to take that away just because you can? Entrepreneurship isn’t fertile here (Cameroon) because you people (government) don’t do much for us to be creative. #EndPhoneTax,” a Twitter user who identifies herself as Becky tweeted.
Here Is What You Need To Know
- By a directive jointly signed by the country’s Ministers of Finance and Posts and Telecommunications on March 13, 2020, applications downloaded from phones and tablets, for use on mobile phone devices are now subject to customs duties and taxes at a flat rate of 200 FCFA ($0.36)per application and per unit download, in accordance with the eighth article of the 2019 Finance Law.
- Added to the application tax is a new way of paying customs clearance fees on imported mobile devices.
- By the new approach, the burden of paying customs clearance fees now lies on the final user where there is a default by the importer.
- The new measure, which also makes customs clearance mandatory for all telephones coming into the country from now on, was expected to officially come into effect on 15th October, 2020.
- However, the plan now appears to have been put on hold following strong resistance from Cameroonian subscribers and mobile operators, who went online to protest against the measure using #EndPhoneTax.
“The telephone user has always paid the 33% tax. The Customs department has not created any new tax. The only issue is that we have changed the way the tax can now be paid. It’s now either physically (at points of entry into the country) or by electronic means…,” Guy Innocent Diffouo, a top Cameroonian Customs official said in a press conference in Yaounde on October 12.
- The electronic payment platform to be manned by a company known as Artificial Intelligence Technology (ARINTECH) SARL alongside relevant Cameroonian agencies aims to force mobile telephone network providers in the country to configure their systems in such a way as to avoid any phones and tablets that have not been cleared from connecting to their respective networks.
Cameroon phone taxes
Read also: All Digital Marketplaces In Kenya To Pay 1.5% Digital Service Tax Starting From 2021
New 19.25% Value-Added Tax (VAT) On Ecommerce Companies In Cameroon
Added to the wave of taxes above is also a new 19.25% VAT introduced under Cameroon’s new finance law. According to the country’s Ministry of Finance (Minfi), goods and services sold on Cameroonian territory through e-commerce platforms, as well as related commissions, are now subjected to VAT.
The implication of this is that online businesses would now have to pay 19.25% VAT, added to the 33% corporate tax and other additional taxes they would have to pay if they were companies.
The central African nation is a buoyant market for mobile phones and other mobile devices. There are more than 23 million mobile subscriptions in the country, representing about 90% of the total population. However, while mobile subscription is high, only about 6 million people, representing about 23.1% of the population have access to the internet. The country’s Directorate General of Customs has also disclosed that about four million telephones are imported into the country every year.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer