Statistical & Tax Returns: Take note of these as March 15 approaches

As a business owner in Cameroon, you should know that preparing your statistical & tax returns (STR) is one of the most important things you need to do each year.

As March 15 approaches, many businesses get busy working on their statistics & tax returns. Declaring your business revenue is done annually. In this case, the taxpayer is expected to submit a declaration of their business’ income during the period that served as tax base before March 15.

The key to a successful filing is to make sure you are completely prepared, and you will save a lot of time if you start early.

You can start the early preparation even before the deadline, and you can update your preparation as you go along to make sure you are prepared for all eventualities.

While some people may wait until the last minute to start preparing their tax returns, this is not advisable, as it can lead to rushed preparations and errors.

Deadline to file the statistical & tax returns in Cameroon

As said above, taxpayers are obliged to submit their business’ revenue declaration for the period before March 15 on a yearly basis. This must be done in conformity with the rules and regulations put in place by the Tax Administration.

Taxpayers are obliged to make available documents that are in conformity with what the OHADA accounting system has put in place. Businesses that are governed by the provisions of the OHADA commercial law must set up an accounting system for both internal and external use.

If you are thinking of starting to prepare your corporate tax returns early, here are some tips to help you get started:

1. File your taxes early – this will save you money and ensure that you get everything on your return completed before the due date. If you can afford it, then you should do it. But if you are doing your taxes on your own, then it’s best to do them as soon as possible. The earlier you do it, the less you can forget about them, and the less you have to worry about it. If you wait until the last minute, then you may forget something, or you may make a mistake. The earlier you file your taxes, the more you can save!

2. Make sure you have all necessary information for your STR filing.

You must have all your tax information together (and at the right tax filing time) for you to file your tax returns. If you don’t, you may end up paying too much or too little in tax.

3. Track and verify all purchases or other cash transactions for the fiscal year.

This is a simple but critical task for your company. You should have an accounting and bookkeeping system that is easy to use, and that can be easily updated to match your company’s growth. Make sure to track all financial transactions and expenses for the entire fiscal year, even if this means creating new accounts in your accounting system. You should also be able to easily verify all expenses and purchases for the entire year, so that you can easily identify errors or discrepancies.

In order to ensure that all transactions are properly documented and that you have a complete and accurate accounting of your cash transactions for the fiscal year, it is important to follow the following steps:

• Create a master spreadsheet with columns for each type of transaction.

• Record the date of each transaction in the top row of the spreadsheet.

• Group transactions by type (e.g., deposits, cash withdrawals, expenses, bill payments, etc.).

4. Get help – if you are not sure how to file your taxes or how to save money on your taxes, get help from a tax professional. Statistical & tax returns filing can be complex and time-consuming to file. Luckily, there are many professionals that provide support to help you with the process.

It is very important to get help from a professional to prepare your corporate tax returns, especially if you are an individual or small business owner.

Tax returns are complicated and can be very time consuming to prepare. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the filing and the forms you need to complete.

To make things easier and more efficient, a professional can help you complete your tax return and return it to the relevant tax office.

Talk to your accountant about what help they can provide you. For more on this, you can get in touch with us!

Read Also: March 15 – The Latest Day to File Tax Returns in Cameroon
The annual reporting of the statistics and tax returns must follow the accounting system put in place by OHADA to all State parties. It has to be in conformity with the Uniform Act on the Organization and Harmonization of Company’s Accounting. Banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions are subject to a specific chart of accounts.

The statistics & tax returns is an integration of the various summary financial statements. These summary financial statements are declared at least once over a twelve months period. This 12 months period is called a fiscal year. These annual financial statements as they are called include:

• The income statement

• Cash flow statement

• Balance sheet (statement of financial position) as well as

• Notes to the financial statements

However, the fiscal year can be longer than twelve months if the first fiscal year commenced during the second half of the year. The annual financial statements are inseparable and describes transactions that were carried out during the fiscal year.

If you need help in preparing your statistics & tax returns for the last fiscal year, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us with the details below. Don’t forget that the deadline for filing it is March 15.