Technological innovation:

DGT, Mopa Modeste Fatoing

Online tax declaration at the doorsteps of taxpayers
Besides having other advantages, the new form of tax declaration for Medium-Sized Enterprises is
simple, quick and practical
By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde
Taxpayers who declare their taxes at the Medium-sized Tax Offices in Yaounde, Douala, Limbe, Bamenda and Bafoussam no longer go through the nightmare of waiting for long hours in unending queues and printing tens of pages of paper to carry out the exercise. Since the beginning of this month, all they need to do is a few clicks of the computer and their taxes are declared.
    The online declaration, which is a major qualitative leap of the Directorate General of Taxes, (DGT) is now done on its website, www.impots.cm . Practically speaking, it is done in seven stages. First of all the declarer must have his taxpayer’s card number before beginning the operation. Then he connects to the above-mentioned website in the rubric tele-declaration or on the site teledeclaration-dgi.cm, and then creates his account.

    The latter will only be active after the manager has activated the account. After the taxpayer has had access to the reception page, he can now proceed with the declaration of the Value Added Tax. Then when he adds the necessary accompanying documents to his declaration, he can print the recapitulation of the declaration.
    This operation which the DGT says is simple, quick and practical is meant to modernize tax procedures in Cameroon. Other advantages of this new system are many and varied: Not only are taxpayers no longer obliged to present themselves physically in tax centres to do their declarations, the online declaration saves them from manual monthly subscriptions on sheets of paper which would eventually be deposited in a re-attachment centre.
    Also, as stated above, the taxpayer now avoids the trouble of printing tens of pages as the online declaration limits the use of sheets of paper and so helps the taxpayer to economize.
Finally, the taxpayer who declares his tax on the last day, that is on the 15th of a month for monthly declarations and the 15th of March for annual declarations no longer run the risk of paying penalties, even if such declarations are made after working hours.
     The DGT last week organized training sessions for taxpayers of Medium-sized enterprises category on the use of this new technology in Yaounde, Douala, Limbe, Bamenda and Bafoussam.