The 2014 Finance Law in other to simplify the tax payment options put in place a payment mechanism whereby taxpayers could conveniently carry out tax payments using their mobile phones. To put the law into practice, the Directorate General of Taxation introduced the Mobile Tax, an electronic payment mechanism whereby taxpayers use mobile money to pay their taxes. The service is available 24 hours and 7 days a week on Orange Money and MTN Mobile Money.
What taxes can be paid using Mobile Tax?
The Mobile tax was introduced by the tax administration in Cameroon in a bid to ease things for taxpayers in fulfilling their tax obligations in a less costly and effective manner. It was envisaged to cover all taxes that could be found in the General Tax Code of Cameroon.
In its first phase that took off in the 2014 fiscal year, the service was made available only for the payment of Property Tax by those owning property within the cities of Douala and Yaounde. Since then, no other tax has been added under the Mobile Tax payment option.
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Reasons for introducing the Mobile Tax payment option
The tax administration of Cameroon through its ongoing organizational reforms of its operations in other to adapt to the innovations of technology introduced the Mobile Tax for the following reasons:
- To encourage tax compliance by providing high quality and customized services to taxpayers
- To innovate the tax administration and its procedures in other to meet up with the changes in technology
- Limit the cost of displacement of taxpayers to and from the tax offices
- To enhance and secure the tax revenue collection
- To ensure taxpayers fulfill their obligations in a timely and cost-effective manner
Prerequisite for using the Mobile tax?
For this service to be effectively made use of, the taxpayer is supposed to have the following:
a) The taxpayer must own an electronic money (mobile money) account. As of now, this service is offered by MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money. A mobile money account can be opened free of charge with any of the aforementioned providers.
b) The taxpayer should be in possession of a pre-filled tax statement. This is issued by the tax administration based on the information provided by the taxpayer. The taxpayer then signs the tax statement to confirm the information and calculations or rectifies it in the case of any errors.
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How to pay taxes using the Mobile tax?
Payments are made using mobile money by the following providers:
MTN Mobile Money – you will have to dial *126# and follow the instructions given by the operator. You choose the ‘3’ to pay a tax. Put in the reference (the declaration number), then you type in your 5-letter PIN and validate. You will receive an SMS for confirmation.
Orange Money – you will have to dial #150*3# and follow the instructions given by the operator. You choose the ‘4’ to pay a tax. Put in the reference (the declaration number), then you type in your 4-letter PIN and validate. You will receive an SMS for confirmation.
What are the costs attributed to using Mobile Tax?
According to the tax administration, the government has taken a major part of the cost associated with the payment of taxes using Mobile Tax. However, a service transfer fee is charged by the mobile money service providers which is deducted automatically. This fee is borne entirely by the taxpayer. The service charges as per banking regulations falls within the following range:
| From | To | Fee |
| 1 | 2 500 | 10 |
| 2 501 | 10 000 | 25 |
| 10 001 | 50 000 | 50 |
| 50 001 | 200 000 | 100 |
| 200 001 | 300 000 | 250 |
| 300 001 | 500 000 | 400 |
More than 5 years since the Mobile Tax was introduced, it’s still used to pay only the property tax. The tax administration had envisaged adding other taxes like the registration fees, discharge tax and expanding the payment method to all other regions of Cameroon.
If you want to know more, you can check these other tax payment options in Cameroon. It should be noted that you can also declare your taxes online in Cameroon. You can also read more about income tax declaration in Cameroon and what you need to know about paying taxes through bank transfers.
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