Congo, Republic of

Employment expenses

The following items are deductible in computing taxable income from employment:

• Social security contributions.
• A standard deduction of 20% of salary income after the above contribution.

Personal deductions

Alimony

Alimony payments are allowed as deductions from taxable income.

Interest expenses

Interest on loans contracted for the construction and purchase of real estate where the owner reserves the possession for one’s self (principal residence of the taxpayer) is deductible. The deduction is limited to the six first annual repayments, up to XAF 1 million per annum.

Annuities

Mandatory and free annuities in arrears are deductible from taxable income.

Healthcare expenses

Medical fees incurred by the taxpayer and dependants are deductible, with the exception of medical care expenses, prostheses, hospitalisation, and pharmaceutical expenses, at up to 10% of net income and up to XAF 200,000 maximum.

Income splitting system

Tax relief is given to families by means of the income splitting or unit system rather than by personal deductions or allowances. Under this system, the total taxable income of the family group is divided into a number of units, and the tax applicable to a single unit is multiplied by the total number of units to give the total amount of tax payable.

An unmarried person is counted for one unit, a married couple is counted as two units, and each dependent child is a half unit. A supplementary half is given for the third and each subsequent child, up to 6.5 units.

Since tax rates are progressive, a family normally suffers less tax under the income splitting system than if tax were charged at the rate applicable to its total income. This is because the more units into which the family's total income divides, the lower the percentage rate applicable to each unit will be.

Children cease to be considered dependent when they reach the age of 21. However, they may elect to be treated as dependant up to the age of 25 if full time students. If a taxpayer is a widow or widower with one or more dependent children, the number of units is calculated as if the other spouse were still alive.