Landed property tax payers to enjoy low charges

As proprietors of pieces of land in the cities of Douala and Yaounde will begin to declare and pay their taxes using the mobile money services come January 1, 2015, low charges on amounts to be transferred through the mobile phones, has been announced as one of the numerous advantages awaiting this category of tax payers.

The revelation was made in Yaounde recently by the Director General of Taxation, Modeste Mopa Fatoing in a presentation on mobile tax. The occasion was the signing of contracts between the Government of Cameroon represented by the Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey and the General Managers of Orange Cameroun, Elizabeth Medou Badang and that of MTN Cameroon, Karl Olutokun Toriola, respectively.

Other officials who attended the ceremony included the Ministers of Land Tenure, Elizabeth Koung a Bissike, Post & Telecommunications, Jean Pierre Biyiti Bi Essam and the Minister Delegate in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, MINATD, Jules Doret Ndongo.

Modeste Mopa had outlined that those paying the landed property tax through mobile money will be charged as low as FCFA 10 for amounts between FCFA 1 and FCFA 2500 while those whose amounts are evaluated at between FCFA 2501 and FCFA 10000 will be charged FCFA 25. People with amounts from FCFA 10 000 to FCFA 50 000 will pay FCFA 50 as charges and those with figures from FCFA 50 001 to FCFA 200 000 will be charged FCFA 100. He added that amounts ranging from FCFA 200 001 to FCFA 300 000 will pay FCFA 250 as charges while landed property owners whose taxes are evaluated at between FCFA 300 001 and FCFA 500 000 will be charged FCFA 400.

In addition to the low rate of charges, the Director General of Taxation noted that the pre-filling of the declaration form and payment of the taxes through mobile money is a tool that will resolve the practical difficulties landed property owners have been facing in carrying out their fiscal obligations.

Mopa said this category of tax payers can conveniently pay their taxes using their mobile phones from the comfort of their homes or offices without moving to the tax centres; grappling with constraints of opening and closing hours; waiting on long queues in front of payment counters, lateness in the issuance of receipts, etc.

Disclosing that this new method will progressively be extended to other tax regimes, Mopa stated that the rate of the tax is 0.1 percent of the total cost of the landed property and owners are required by law to pay by March 15, 2015 latest. He strongly advised people to get their pre-filled declarations and pay within the time.

On why new and modern modes of payments of taxes are being introduced, the Director General said they are out to modernise tax administration by providing quality services to tax payers in order to improve on fiscal behaviours. He noted that they are also working hard to reduce the cost of fiscal discipline by limiting physical movements of tax payers to the tax centres; easing and simplifying payment procedures for tax payers and securing revenue through the elimination of manipulation of physical cash.

Tax payers can free-of-charge open their mobile money accounts with MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroun in all sales points of the telephony companies across the national territory.

After receiving pre-filled declaration from the tax administrators, the tax payers can then proceed to the payment of the dues using a unique number appearing on the pre-filled declaration form. Those who have Mobile Money accounts with MTN Cameroon are expected to dial the code *126*1# while those with Orange Money accounts hosted by Orange Cameroun, will dial the code #150# to proceed with their payments.

Dwelling on perspectives, Modeste Mopa Fatoing stated that the tax administration is envisaging a number of measures when once the pilot phase of the Mobile Tax is through. This include the extension of the Mobile Tax initiative to all the regions of the country while hitherto payments made in cash such as the registration of purchase orders and buying of stamps will then be done through mobile money.