Cameroon, Republic of

As of 1 January 2024, the following significant corporate tax developments were introduced in Cameroon by the 2024 Finance Law:

• Relaxation of the conditions for deducting head office and technical assistance costs for new companies with a deficit and companies with a continuing deficit.

• Non-deductibility of losses resulting from the transfer of the liabilities of the dissolved company in the event of a change of activities following restructuring is confirmed.
• Replacement of the ‘Tax Clearance Certificate‘ by the ’Tax Compliance Certificate‘, which attests not only to the payment of taxes due but also to taxpayers' compliance with their other reporting obligations.
• Automation of the procedure for issuing withholding tax (WHT) certificates.
• Deductibility of losses resulting from the transfer of liabilities from the dissolved company to the absorbing company in the event of a change of activities following restructuring.
• Extension of the obligation to withhold special income tax to remuneration for services of any kind paid abroad to natural persons.
• Tightening of the conditions for deductibility of losses relating to damage and breakage resulting from a fault attributable to the taxpayer.
• Reduction from 500,000 to 100,000 Communauté Financière Africaine francs (XAF) of the deductibility threshold for operating expenses paid in cash.
• Modification of the tax transparency criterion used to define the notion of tax haven, which now refers to the international bodies responsible for promoting transparency in tax matters (Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, of which Cameroon is a member).
• Setting the deadline for filing the annual tax return according to the tax centre to which the taxpayer is attached:
• 15 March for taxpayers under the Large Taxpayers' Unit.
• 15 April for taxpayers reporting to Medium-sized Tax Centres and Specialised Tax Centres.
• 15 May for taxpayers under Divisional Tax Centres.
• Reduction in the rate of registration duties on transfers of goodwill (from 15% to 10%) and on transfers of real estate for the benefit of public interest associations and religious bodies (super-reduced rate of 1%).
• Establishment of a tax regime for non-professional taxpayers.
• Introduction of the automatic exchange of information standard and the obligation to file a country-by-country (CbC) declaration.