Democratic Republic of the Congo Withholding tax rates
Democratic Republic of the Congo Withholding tax rates: no single figure applies. The reason is set out below, cited to the governing instrument. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The withholding taxes the Democratic Republic of the Congo levies on payments to non-residents - the impot mobilier (impot sur les revenus mobiliers) on dividends, interest and royalties, and the 14% withholding on service fees paid to persons not established in the DRC - each at its domestic statutory rate before any double-tax agreement relief. Administered by the Direction Generale des Impots (DGI).
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| Current value | structured — see the API |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-01-01 |
| Official source | Ordonnance-loi n° 69/009 du 10 fevrier 1969 relative aux impots cedulaires sur les revenus (consolidated text): art. 26 'L'impot mobilier est fixe a 20 %.'; art. 83 (as amended by Loi de finances n° 15/021 du 31 decembre 2015) 'Le taux de l'impot professionnel est fixe a 14 % sur les sommes payees en remuneration des prestations de services de toute nature fournies par des personnes physiques ou morales non etablies en Republique Democratique du Congo.' Corroborated post-reform by PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries - DRC Withholding taxes (last reviewed 21 April 2026): dividends 10-20%, interest 0-20%, royalties 20%, services 14%. |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | secondary — Corroborated, but the primary instrument was NOT read (usually the publishing host blocks automated access). The operative rates are quoted verbatim in French from the consolidated Ordonnance-loi 69/009 (primary). HOWEVER, the DRC replaced its cedulaire system (including the impot mobilier and impot professionnel) with an impot sur les societes (IS) and IRPP under Lois n° 23/052 and 23/053 du 30 novembre 2023 (JORDC numero special, 29 decembre 2023), in force 1 January 2026 with a 2026-2027 transitional tolerance. The text of Loi 23/053's withholding articles could not be read directly (only a scanned, no-text-layer PDF was retrievable), so continuity of these exact rates under the new regime rests on PwC's DRC withholding-tax page as last reviewed 21 April 2026 - i.e. after entry into force - which still states dividends 10-20%, interest 0-20%, royalties 20%, services 14%. Until the Loi 23/053 text is verified, the record is served as secondary. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
THERE IS NO SINGLE WITHHOLDING TAX RATE, WHICH IS WHY value IS NULL. The DRC withholds under two distinct heads for non-residents - the impot mobilier at 20% on dividends, interest and royalties, and a 14% withholding on service fees paid to persons not established in the DRC - with sectoral variants in mining. A caller wanting a number must name which payment type; read withholding_rates rather than expecting a headline figure. ALL RATES ARE DOMESTIC STATUTORY RATES, BEFORE TREATY RELIEF. A double-tax agreement can reduce any of them (the DRC's treaties include Belgium and South Africa), and whether relief is available depends on the recipient's residence and the treaty's terms. We do NOT serve treaty rates: they are bilateral and applying one is a legal determination rather than a lookup. REGIME CHANGE IN FORCE SINCE 1 JANUARY 2026: Lois n° 23/052 et 23/053 du 30 novembre 2023 replaced the cedulaire system (impot mobilier, impot professionnel/IBP) with an impot sur les societes (30% on net profit, 1% minimum on turnover) and an IRPP, effective 1 January 2026 with an administrative tolerance period through 2027. The withholding rates below originate in Ordonnance-loi 69/009 and are corroborated as still applied post-reform by PwC (reviewed 21 April 2026); the effective_from of 2026-01-01 marks the regime change, not a rate change. Mining-sector variants (10% dividends, 0% on foreign-currency loan interest) derive from the Code minier and are noted on the relevant entries.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cd/withholding-tax
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cd/withholding-tax/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/cd/withholding-tax
Other Democratic Republic of the Congo series: BCC taux directeur (policy rate) · TVA taux normal (standard VAT rate) · VAT registration threshold · SMIG · Public holidays · Inflation en glissement annuel (year-on-year CPI inflation) · Impôt sur les sociétés (IS) · Moratory interest (intérêts moratoires) · IRPP · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Egypt · Equatorial Guinea · Eswatini · Ethiopia · Gabon · all 34