There are certain things when doing business in Cameroon that are worth knowing – the reason why I need to use some examples to explain.

It’s been a while!

I had to put out some time to satisfy a client I will be announcing in the days ahead. It was necessary for us to compile all the required documents and deposit last Tuesday in order to meet up with our 14 working days’ deadline.

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You can also get in touch with us if you want to change your company’s name, want to add new activities or bring in new shareholders.

…and the public holidays feature

It’s worth knowing that Mondays are contri Sundaysin the English-speaking regions of Cameroon. Mondays had been declared a ghost town by separatists in the NW and SW Regions due to the armed-crisis in these two English-speaking regions of Cameroon. This means everybody has to stay at home and no business or administrative activity is supposed to take place.

I was also unaware or maybe forgot about the numerous public holidays this week until I noticed some authorities in government offices had already taken their long weekend. It’s a very long holiday which started last weekend.

However, the necessary was done and our client will be receiving his incorporation certificate, taxpayer’s card, certificate of non-indebtedness, business localization certificate and business license within 14 working days.

Worth Knowing: that 14 working days means public holidays as well as ‘contri Sundays’ are not counted since offices remain close.

This is worth knowing

• Every corporate body or natural person, foreigner or Cameroonian carrying out a business activity must have a registered business. It could be a company, a partnership or a sole proprietor business.
• All business activity carried out by a corporate body or natural person within a council area is liable to the business license. The business license is a local tax collected by the tax office on behalf of the local council where the business is operating.

Make sure you read these 8 common council taxes you may not have known in Cameroon.

• As a newly incorporated company, our client above will benefit from a temporary exemption from the business licence contribution for a period of one year. However, it should be at their request. They can request for EXEMPTED to be labelled on their business licence.
• The business licence is due for a full year by all carrying out taxable activity in Cameroon as at January 1^st. However, those who start a business activity within the year, like my client, will be liable to the tax only from the first days of the month in which they start activity. An exception to the above is when the nature of the activity prevents it from being carried out throughout the year. An example of such activities are seasonal businesses. In this case, the business licence is due for the whole year, irrespective of when its activities started.
• The company incorporation certificate is valid for ninety-nine (99) years renewable. This means your company may outlive you.

• As a new business, you need to know the taxes that you are liable to, when you have to pay or deadlines for payment. I shared with you a tax guide for limited liability companies in Cameroon some weeks ago.
• For those who are still planning to incorporate their own companies, these 5 easy steps to form a limited liability company in Cameroon will be of great help. Also see what it entails to obtain a business license in Cameroon.

I will be updating this post from time-to-time. There are many things that are worth knowing I will be adding.

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