The implementation of the online tax declaration system “e-Tax” continues in the country, with the accession on November 4 of BGFI and MTN mobile after three other operators. The Congolese authorities behind the reform hope to increase tax collection and secure budget revenues.
Launched last July in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the “e-tax” application is supposed to improve the performance of the Congolese tax administration and ensure its traceability. The system allows taxpayers to do their formalities online, to centralize the data of the tax management system, to computerize the entire process (collection, litigation, assessment, reimbursement), including harmonizing the procedures between the different structures under supervision.
But the volume of declarations on the app is still low, four months after its entry into service. According to the user project manager, Lambert Ifoko, this low level of membership of local companies is due to the lack of awareness, the low participation of operators at the start, the dysfunction linked to the production of fees, the non-registration of companies with a single national identity file and difficult access to the Internet.
To try to correct these shortcomings, the Ministry of Finance and Budget, through the Information System Department (DSI), initiated from this Wednesday, November 4, workshops intended to raise taxpayers’ awareness of teleprocedures and tele-payment. “To achieve the expected objectives, we have adopted a concerted approach which consists in involving all possible actors, in particular taxpayers, in all phases of the implementation of this e-Tax tool. This has been the case since the pilot phase and the awareness phase, “said the director general of taxes and estates, Ludovic Itoua.
The new procedure just presented by the ISD consists of recording all taxes payable and monthly declarations in the e-Tax system. Initially, the procedure was mixed, the taxpayer declares himself online to obtain an acknowledgment of receipt and a statement of liquidation. The declarant presents himself with these two documents to the tax authorities in order to pay his taxes. But with the new procedure, the taxpayer makes his declaration via the e-Tax application and makes remote payment from banks and mobile operators.
The system is not static, assures Lambert Ifoko, because e-Tax will improve over time. “The application had issues with producing receipts, data that was not displayed correctly. We have devoted more than three months to processing the Value Added Tax (VAT), which represents over 40% of national tax revenues. Taxes represent a large part of the volume of declarations, accounting for 60% of VAT and other duty bills, ”he explained.
The membership of BGFI mobile, with its 31,000 subscribers, and MTN money with its 1.6 million customers and 19,000 is a success for the promoters.
