By DOH JAMES SONKEY IN YAOUNDE
Strategies to enhance the performance of officials of the Directorate General of Taxations were revamped last February 16 to 18, 2017 in Maroua, Far North Region during the 9th delocalized step of coordination meetings of officials of the central and devolved services of the Directorate General of Taxation chaired by the Director General of Taxation, Modeste MOPA FATOING.
Addressing participants at the occasion, the Director General of Taxation, Modeste MOPA explained that the Maroua meeting coincided with the launch of the 2017 Finance Year in Cameroon which reminds them of their challenge to raise FCFA 1,843 billion, of which F CFA 1,719 billion represents non-oil tax revenue and FCFA 124 billion being income tax from oil companies.
He further explained that “The Maroua meeting equally falls in line with the recent option taken by the DGT to relocate these encounters from Yaoundé so as to bring the hierarchy of tax administration closer to its field staff, to promote dialogue with the taxpayers of the interior and also to interact with local administrative authorities. All of these in order to raise awareness among all the major stakeholders on the missions and expectations of the tax administration and to be abreast with the practical concerns encountered on the ground.”
The taxation boss reminded his collaborators that on a qualitative note, the government wants them to continue with reforms aimed at modernizing the tax services and simplifying tax procedures in the country.
On strategies to help them attain their objectives, Mr MOPA Modeste reiterated that “The Directorate General of Taxation intends to build on the achievements of the reforms it has carried out in the past and those contained in the 2017 Finance Law, as well as on the constant support of the authorities to meet the revenue mobilization challenge in 2017. The Minister of Finance is particularly keen on the fact that our revenue mobilization strategies continue to move towards the best international standards. To increase revenue collection, we have taken the following measures; consolidation of the tax policy and tax administration reforms of previous years, the improvement of the expected yield of certain indirect taxes, in particular the special tax on petroleum products (STPP), excise duties, VAT on furnished rentals and the tourist tax, the optimization of the revenues collected thanks to the application of administrative price lists.”
He further stressed that “to improve the quality of tax services, these measures are taken; consolidation of the automation and simplification reforms carried out in previous years, increasing the availability of resources dedicated to the refund of VAT credits and setting up an interactive on-line system for tracking claims and other requests addressed to the tax administration, automation of the issuance of the tax clearance and the introduction of a mechanism for the electronic transmission of receipts to taxpayers, the extension of the e-filing procedure to specialized tax centers and the registration deeds for the sale of used cars, the installation of electronic terminals for the payment of taxes and duties in tax centers, as well as the setting up of a cash collection system at the level of bank tellers, extending the payment of taxes by cell phone and setting up a system of filing tax returns via mobile phone for small taxpayers.”
The Taxation boss further said that with regards to the steering and coordinating of tax services, a development center would be created at the level of the Directorate General of Taxation while on the modernization of the DGT’s information system, the following were discussed; the computerization of tax operations through the generalization of the Biometric Taxpayers Identification Number(IDU) and the launching of the work on the integrated tax and tax management system and the strengthening of the investigation function through the implementation of the information exchange platform with the customs administration known as “FUSION.”
It should be recalled that the Maroua meeting that held in a context marked by the persistence of the drastic decline revenue derived from natural resources, especially oil, the entry into force of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union, and significant security challenges, enabled Mr MOPA Modeste to discuss with taxpayers grouped together in socio-professional bodies and administrative authorities to solicit for more support in the supervision and accompaniment of the local services of the DGI in order to improve on their efficiency.
The encounter equally held in the wake of the CEMAC Summit of Heads of State, in which tax administrations were urged to work towards broadening the tax base in order to create a budgetary space that safeguards resources for the protection of the most disadvantaged social strata and to avoid austerity. Finally, it occurs after the annual conference of the Ministry of Finance’s central and external services, which was held under the theme focusing on “Optimizing tax revenue mobilization, preserving the viability and sustainability of public debt.”