Gov’t urges diplomatic missions, int’l organisations to honour tax obligations.

This was the central focus of a one-day seminar organised for diplomatic and consular missions located in Yaounde, and international organisations, related agencies, yesterday 10 January at the headquarters of the Directorate General of Taxation, DGT.
Roger Athanase Meyong Abath, the Director General of Taxation, who presided over the event on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, alluded that of the over 100 diplomatic missions accredited to Yaounde, not more than 47 of them make any effort to conform to their tax obligations to the country they live in and carry out their services.
Specifically on personal income tax deductions payable by staff of diplomatic and consular missions, as well as international organisations, the taxation boss expressed dismay that many of these bodies are not only out of conformity, but don’t seem to be making any effort to regularise their situation.
Income tax deductions on staff personal emolument for workers in embassies, consular offices and international organisations that are supposed to be deducted and paid into government treasury are not done, the taxation boss disclosed. This, he added, is the same with many other taxable services that are supposed to attract deductions and such revenues paid into government coffers, which are never done by the majority of these establishments.

Tis, according to the DGT boss, makes the seminar a sort of opportunity to revive relations between the government and the taxation department on the one hand and defaulting concerned embassies and related institutions on the other.
Meyong Abath used the opportunity to inform participants, who were mainly representatives of diplomatic missions and international organisations, that a special tax office has since been opened in the Nylong area of the Bastos neighbourhood in Yaounde, to attend solely to the tax exigencies of diplomatic and consular missions, as well as international organisations and related agencies.
The taxation boss informed participants that the acquisition of Tax Compliance Certificate, TCC, which is now compulsory for those who are applying for visas to travel out of the country, does not concern only Cameroonians, but nationals of other countries working in embassies, consular offices, international organisations and related agencies in Cameroon.
He added, however, that many avenues have been provided by the DGT to facilitate the acquisition of this document so that travelers are not held back by bureaucratic delays that normally occur when official channels of acquiring such documents are followed.
For this reason, DG Meyong Abath showered praises on the Minister of Finance and his counterpart of external relations for providing the enabling environment to revamp relations with participants on tax matters; as exemplified in the holding of the seminar.
This was when the organisers delved into the intricacies of running the newly inaugurated call centre at the DGT head office, to facilitate the acquisition of the TCC before traveling.
DG Meyong Abath assured participants that similar workshops and seminars will be held on a continuous basis to bring them abreast with tax issues especially as concerns provisions made in that regard in the 2024 Finance Law.

Exemptions & exonerations
Faycel Abdoulaye, head of the legislation and international tax relations division at the DGT, clarified participants on exemptions and exonerations that officials working with diplomatic and consular missions, international organisations and related agencies can enjoy.
He began by stating that these fiscal exonerations and or exemptions are provided for diplomatic staff so as to ease operations of diplomatic missions and related agencies in carrying out their functions in countries where they are posted.
These privileges are open to technical and administrative staff, heads of diplomatic missions and their agents. In which case, even Cameroonians who fall in this category of personnel as well as their family members enjoy these exemptions and fiscal exonerations.
They can have Value Added Tax they paid to export or import specific items refunded to them. They can also enjoy special privileges relating to special tax on petroleum products. Here, beneficiary officials can enjoy exemption for up to 2,000 litres of fuel used in their vehicles, for not more than 10 vehicles per embassy.
All that beneficiaries need to do is to apply to the Minister of External Relations for exemption and/or exoneration. The Minister of External Relations approves the application and forwards same to the Minister of Finance. After examination and approval at the level of MINFI, the Minister then orders the DGT to issue the required tax exemption and/or exoneration certificate.