BRIEF INFO

MINFI - MINDDEVEL

Letter No. 00009054/MINFI/DGI/LRI/L of 17 November 2022 addressed to the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development (MINDDEVEL) on the modalities of collecting advertising duties and taxes

29 November 2022

On 17 November 2022, the Minister of Finance (« MINFI ») sent letter No. 00009054/MINFI/DGI/LRI/L to the Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development (« MINDDEVEL ») on the modalities of collection of advertising duties and taxes (the « Letter »).

This letter follows the conclusions of the working session held on 11 October 2022 between representatives of MINDDEVEL, the Centre de Recherches et d’Etudes Publicitaires (« CREP »), the Association des Régisseurs en Publicité du Cameroun (« ARPC ») and the technical services of MINFI, concerning the examination of the modalities of collection of advertising duties and taxes by the Decentralised Territorial Collectivities (« DTCs »).

It should be pointed out that the DTCs have often collected and levied the advertising fee from companies on their advertising operations, which has sometimes been the subject of strong disputes by some of them. The Letter therefore provides important clarifications on the modalities of collection of advertising duties and taxes.

In the said letter, MINFI states that the Cameroonian legislation in force does not provide for an advertising fee applicable to the advertising operations of companies, which makes it an illegal tax whose collection by the DTCs is not in conformity, MINFI says.

However, MINFI stresses that only the stamp duty on advertising is payable by companies for advertising operations. This duty is paid by the companies under the responsibility of the specialised management units to the said units, the other companies having to pay it to their advertising agents, who are responsible for paying it to the tax authorities in accordance with the provisions of article 589 and following of the General Tax Code.

MINFI nevertheless recognises that the DTCs are fully empowered to collect revenues relating to the management of spaces developed by them on the public domain under their jurisdiction and rented for the installation of billboard supports, in accordance with the provisions of Article 393 of Law No. 2019/024 of 24 December 2019 on the General Code of DTCs.

In summary, the letter addressed to MINDDEVEL (i) recalls the illegal nature of the advertising fee that was collected until now by the DTCs, (ii) specifies that only the stamp duty is payable by companies, which must pay it to the specialised management units or to their advertising managers, and (iii) recognises exclusively the DTCs’ right to collect revenues relating to the management of the spaces set up by them on the public domain and rented out for the installation of billboard supports.