Cameroon has set out the direction of its 2027 Finance Law. The detail is not yet available, but much of it points to two regional directives, on VAT and on income and profit taxation, which Cameroon is expected to bring into its own law.
Cameroon is the largest economy in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), whose six members are Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. They share a currency, the Central African CFA franc (FCFA), and a central bank. CEMAC also sets tax rules for its members through directives. A directive does not apply directly: each member state must transpose it into its own law, usually through its annual finance law.
What Cameroon Has Announced
The government’s budget orientation circular for 2027, Circular No. 001 of 12 October 2026, sets out the tax policy the Finance Law 2027 is to follow. Broadly speaking, the aim is to raise more revenue by widening the tax base rather than raising rates.
For domestic taxes, the circular proposes:
- strengthening the taxation of extractive activities, particularly gold mining;
- reducing tax expenditures (the revenue given up through exemptions and reliefs), chiefly by transposing the revised CEMAC VAT Directive of 10 November 2022;
- strengthening environmental taxation, and extending real-time taxation and electronic invoicing;
- introducing electronic monitoring of production in high-risk sectors, and limiting cash payments, to bring more of the informal sector into the tax net; and
- rationalising tax rates on income from labour and capital, aligning the rules with the new CEMAC directives on income and profit taxation and on tax procedures, and speeding up VAT credit refunds.
For customs, Cameroon intends to introduce targeted levies to finance import substitution, streamline the collection of duties on imported hydrocarbons, consolidate the duty on imported mobile phones, tablets and other digital devices, and improve the collection of revenue from mineral exports.
These are orientations, not law. The detailed measures will only be known once the Finance Law 2027 is adopted.
The CEMAC VAT Directive
CEMAC first harmonised VAT across its members in 1999. The rules were revised in 2011, and in 2019 excise duties were moved into a separate text. The current directive, adopted in 2022, replaces the earlier VAT rules.
Its main features include:
- a registration threshold, set by each member state, which cannot be lower than FCFA 30 000 000 of annual turnover excluding tax;
- the confirmation that transactions carried out in a member state are subject to VAT there, even where the supplier is domiciled or has its registered office elsewhere; and
- rules on exemptions, the tax base, when the tax falls due, VAT credit refunds and taxpayers’ obligations.
Cameroon’s standard VAT rate is currently 17.5%, with a reduced rate of 10%, under the 2026 Finance Law. The circular does not suggest that the rate will change. The focus is on exemptions, which the directive limits. In practice, transposing it is likely to mean that some goods and services that are exempt in Cameroon today become taxable.
The CEMAC Directive on Income and Profit Taxation
The second directive was adopted in January 2025. It replaces the 2001 directive on corporate income tax and the 2004 directive on personal income tax, and for the first time brings both into a single text.
The points most likely to matter to businesses are:
- Corporate income tax rate: member states must charge at least 20%, and may charge more;
- Exempt entities: the 2001 directive allowed 15 categories of exempt entity. The new directive limits this to the regional central bank (BEAC) and the regional development bank (BDEAC) and, if a state chooses, pension funds and the national social security fund. States may not add to the list;
- Tax credits: these are allowed only to encourage investment in strategic sectors, are capped at 15% of the qualifying spend on equipment or buildings bought from third parties, and may last no more than five years;
- Non-residents: a non-resident company is taxable where it is effectively managed in the state, or has a permanent establishment there;
- Investment income: the tax rate on income from shares and other securities is generally between 10% and 20%, and no exemptions are allowed, other than on mergers and partial transfers of assets; and
- Rental income: taxed at between 5% and 15%.
Cameroon’s corporate income tax rate is already above the 20% floor, so the effect is more likely to be felt in the incentives and exemptions that companies currently rely on than in the headline rate.
Our View
Much of this is welcome. Harmonised rules across six neighbouring countries should make life simpler for groups operating in more than one of them, and a closed list of exemptions is, in principle, fairer and easier to administer than a long and growing one. Faster VAT credit refunds would be a particularly welcome change, as slow refunds are a real cash-flow burden on exporters and businesses with heavy start-up costs.
Less welcome, at least for those who benefit from them, is the likely loss of exemptions and incentives. Businesses that have built a reliance on a particular exemption or tax holiday should not assume it will survive the Finance Law 2027.
The circular itself is rather vague, and it is not yet clear how far, or how quickly, Cameroon will go in transposing either directive. It’ll be interesting to see how much of the directives finds its way into the Finance Law, and whether the other CEMAC states follow at the same pace.
The Commercial Implications
Businesses Relying on Exemptions or Incentives
Any business that currently benefits from a VAT exemption, a corporate tax exemption or an investment incentive in Cameroon should check whether it falls within what the directives still allow. If it does not, it would be prudent to budget for the possibility that it ends.
Mining Companies, Particularly Gold
Extractive activities, and gold mining in particular, are singled out for stronger taxation. Mining companies should expect changes both to domestic taxes and to the collection of revenue on mineral exports.
Importers
Importers of hydrocarbons, mobile phones, tablets and other digital devices should watch for changes to customs duties and new levies.
Groups Operating Across CEMAC
Groups with operations in several CEMAC states may, over time, find the rules converging. It would be sensible to review structures now, rather than wait for each state to transpose the directives separately.
Perspectives d'avenir
Detailed measures will be known once the Finance Law 2027 is adopted, and we will report on them then. In the meantime, the circular gives a clear indication of where Cameroon is heading: fewer exemptions, a wider base, and closer alignment with its CEMAC neighbours.
If you would like to discuss how Cameroon’s proposed changes, or the CEMAC directives, may affect your business, notre équipe would be glad to help. Prenez contact.
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