Automobile Stamp Duty : What Impact On State Revenue

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Automobile Stamp Duty : What Impact On State Revenue

It is an important source of income for the State purse especially as prices of crude oil and raw ma

08 avril 2018 14:35

The Ministry of Finance has launched a one-month control campaign of automobile stamp duty (Windscreen licences). The operation which runs from March 27 to April 27, is a routine exercise aimed at forcefully recovering these taxes from automobile owners. Though it’s routine, the control is regulated by existing legal instrument which ensures that all vehicle or motorcycle owners respects the law. According to the text regulating the sector, the tax is paid according to the category (horse power) of the automobile. For motorcycles, owners are expected to pay FCFA 2000, FCFA 5,000 for tricycles, FCFA 15000 for vehicles between 2-7 horsepower, FCFA 25,000 for automobiles ranging between 8-13 horsepower, FCFA 50,000 for vehicles with 14-20 horsepower and FCFA 100,000 for vehicles of 21 and above horsepower. Payment of windscreen licenses it should be noted, is done once a year. The objectives of the control campaign are multifaceted. It is not only to ensure that the tax is effectively collected but also to verify the authenticity of the attestations of payment issued by insurance companies charged for the collection amongst others.

According to a Senior Taxation Inspector, Jean Celestin Nanaoua, Sub-Director of Tax Value at the General Directorate of Taxation, the sale of windscreen licenses generated some FCFA 7.9 billion in 2016. It moved upward to FCFA 8.2 billion in 2017 (11 months of collection) following the reform to join windscreen license collection to insurance policy. The reform also helped the State to economise some FCFA 409 million that the government used to disburse to acquire automobile stamps.

Mr Nanaoua revealed that the reform to dematerialise the system through the use of Insurance companies has so far been proven efficient...