The dematerialization of payments and proper monitoring of State revenue led to the implementation by the public authorities of the electronic fiscal stamp, a tax of 50 FCFA instituted by the finance law and already active in the payment of invoices.
Recommendation of the 2019 finance law, the electronic stamp should allow the State to electronically and continuously monitor the taxes due and increase its tax base: VAT, the additional cent, audiovisual taxes and many others. included in the payment of bills now offered by mobile money. As of July 1, this electronic stamp came into effect and is borne by the end user with each payment of invoices, in accordance with the law.
The bills for water, electricity, telephone, television channel subscriptions and the electronic Internet are already pinned by the project at this stage. Moreover, these companies have until October 1 to definitively implement the operation already initiated by Canal +, Easy Tv, Startimes, La Congolaise des Eaux and Energie Électrique du Congo, said Atali Mopaya, tax advisor of the Congo, on Monday. telecommunications and digital content at the Ministry of Finance.
To achieve a better refocusing of the process, several meetings have been held since last year with the companies concerned, the Regulatory Agency for Posts and Electronic Communications (Arpce), understood as the technical arm of the operation, and the Directorate General of Taxes and Domains (Dgid), the main beneficiary of the tax.
On June 19, during a preparatory meeting for the launch of the operation, at the ARPCE headquarters, Marc Sakala, its Director General, asked the Congolese to “favor the payment of their bills by mobile money. Thus, they will no longer be forced to travel to agencies. The latter will receive a certified message after each payment, issued by ARPCE which will confirm for the State that you have indeed paid your invoice “.
Since then, in fact, a certification message has been sent to each payment of an invoice by mobile money, like those of Canal + having already taken the advantage of justifying the process of the tax a little more, despite the grumbling of users who balk at an additional tax.
Other companies, anxious to comply with the law, have already followed suit, such as Congo Telecom which issued a press release on Monday, September 7 on the addition of 50 FCFA to these various offers.
If the levy instituted in the digital economy sector aims to reach all sectors of activity in the long term, and to establish a culture of electronic payment, the tax collection companies, mentioned above, are only the first part. of the first phase of this project. The 2020 finance law has indeed broadened the scope of the electronic stamp.
The next billers, according to ARPCE and the Ministry of Finance, will be hardware stores, breweries, pharmacies, supermarkets, hotels, travel agencies, etc. By November, they will all be applying the electronic stamp while the platform expands to their services.
The electronic stamp is one of the flagship projects of dematerialization. This electronic certification process will globally allow the finance ministry to not only broaden the tax base, but also to ensure that invoice payments are dated and certified. It will also have to strengthen the improvement of the business climate, facilitate financial inclusion, establish in real time the activities of economic operators regardless of their location.
In view of its proven expertise in the monitoring of electronic communications traffic flows, ARPCE has been entrusted by the legislator with the implementation of the electronic device which ensures the certification of the payments of said invoices in order to guarantee digital trust. with consumers.
What is the expected figure for the tax this year? Difficult to obtain exact information for a period considered “experimental”, to use the term used by Atali Mopaya. We will probably have to wait until next year to assess whether the electronic stamp has bolstered the state budget by improving the traceability process.
If the Ministry of Finance is the main beneficiary of the operation on behalf of the state, it must ensure that its implementation is well understood by the populations. An additional tax, even a legitimized one, should be the subject of appropriate education and communication, even more so at a time when the high cost of living leaves no room for unjustified expenditure.
