State partners MTN, Orange for property tax payment by Mobile Money

The Minister Finance Alamine Ousmane Mey, signed on 5 December 2014 in Yaoundé, a partnership agreement with the mobile operators MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroon, for the implementation of the 'Mobile Tax', a new system of payment of property tax via the Mobile Money service.

Available 24 hours a day, this service will be deployed in two phases. For the first phase, the 'Mobile Tax' will be exclusively for property tax on real estate properties. "This only concerns landowners in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala for the mean time," said Alamine Ousmane Mey.

Later, he added, that this solution will lead gradually to a broadening of the range of solutions of payment of taxes with MTN and Orange partners. It will be, in practical terms, to adapt the 'Mobile Tax' to all taxes and fees provided for in the general Code of taxes.

In Cameroon, the property tax represents about 8 billion francs Cfa in tax revenue per year. But, with the mode of current collection, the Directorate-General of taxes has not succeeded in mobilizing up to 2 billion Cfa francs in revenue — losses valued at around 6 billion Cfa francs.

The 'Mobile Tax', which aims to catch up with this financial gap, provides the opening of an account with 'MTN Mobile Money' or 'Orange Money' in all points of sale of these operators scattered across the entire national territory.

On the basis of the information in their possession, tax services shall notify a declaration pre-filled to the taxpayer. Upon receipt of this statement, the taxpayer is invited to proceed to the payment of the fee associated with the unique number mentioned on the pre-filled declaration.

In the absence of receiving a pre-filled statement, eager to fulfil its tax liability a taxpayer may from the web site of the DGI (www.impots.cm) download the declaration. After receipt of the pre-filled statement, the taxpayer can therefore proceed to the payment of tax.

But to facilitate the access of these services to taxpayers, the opening of kiosks is expected in local centres regional and divisional taxes, between the 10th and the 15th of each month.