To boost Cameroon’s economic growth:

Taxation & customs sign protocol agreement

The DGs of taxation and customs exchange books

The signing ceremony, which saw the putting in place of a new tool dubbed FUSION, took place between the directors general of taxation and customs and was presided over by the minister of Finance on Tuesday, 14 June 2016.

By Tanyi Kenneth Musa in Yaounde

Although Cameroon’s economy has made some impressively noticeable strides in the recent past, there is still a lot to be done to enable it to attain a two-digit growth rate. Part of this has to do with the synergizing of efforts amongst the different departments that work in the economic and finance sector.

                It is for this reason that the minister of Finance, AlamineOusmaneMey, presided over the signing of a protocol agreement of collaboration between the directors general of taxation and customs, MopaModeste and Edwin Fongod respectively, on Tuesday, 14 June 2016.

                According to the agreement, both administrations (taxation and customs) will henceforth share information through a computer system of collection, sharing of data and analysis of risks codenamed “FUSION”. This tool was put in place thanks to the expertise of the German Cooperation, GTZ.

                In the words of Minister AlamineOusmaneMey, FUSION is “a new tool that will also enable the prevention and reduction of loss at the levels of the payment of taxes, particularly value added tax (VAT) which practically generates 33% of state revenue.” This is especially so as an analysis of the current system of mobilization of resources has revealed that tax revenues are low due to lack of collaboration between the tax and customs administrations.

                The protocol agreement will henceforth permit the suppression of barriers, and the bringing together of data from the two administrations will encourage cross-checking, comparisons and more effective follow-up which will ensure that taxpayers pay exactly what is required of them and that the administration, for its part, delivers quality, quick and effective service.

                The putting in place of FUSION is also advantageous to the taxpayer because the taxation/customs synergy will reduce the number of controls. Said the Finance minister after the signing exercise:

“We often have the impression that there is a superimposition of controls.                                     Henceforth, with the new collaborative effort, we could significantly reduce the number of controls, do them well before the companies come to the field and thus enable economic operators to gain time instead of permanently appearing before the administrations to justify this or that operation.”

                There is therefore no doubt that the new tool will improve the quality of services as well as significantly increase state revenue.