Republic of the Congo Value added tax (TVA)
Republic of the Congo Value added tax (TVA) is 18 percent, in force since 12 May 1997. Last checked against the official source on 7 Aug 2026.
Standard rate of the taxe sur la valeur ajoutee applicable in the Republic of the Congo.
| Current value | 18 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 1997-05-12 |
| Official source | Loi n° 12-97 du 12 mai 1997 portant institution de la Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée, article 17 ('taux normal : 18%'), signed original on the official SGG host; standard rate restated unchanged by Loi n° 42 du 31 décembre 2025 (styled 42-2025) portant loi de finances pour l'année 2026 (JO édition spéciale n° 3-2026, 'la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA), fixée à 18%') |
| Last verified | 2026-08-07 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
STATUTORY NOMINAL RATE = 18%. On top of it, centimes additionnels of 5% OF THE VAT AMOUNT (not of the base) are levied for local authorities, giving an effective all-in charge of 18.9% of the pre-tax price. We serve the nominal 18% per convention and document the 18.9% combined figure here rather than blending. A REDUCED RATE also exists: the 2026 finance law amends 'Annexe 5 - liste des biens de consommation courante soumis au taux reduit de TVA' and 'Annexe 3 - biens de premiere necessite exoneres de TVA' (basic foods, medicines, etc.). PROVENANCE CAVEAT: 18% is NOT new for 2026 - it is long-standing and merely restated by the 2026 finance law, whose text is what we actually loaded and quoted. The underlying instituting statute is Loi n. 12-97 du 12 mai 1997 instituant la TVA; we did NOT independently load that 1997 text, so effective_from is dated to the start of the verified 2026 fiscal year rather than asserting an unverified 1997 continuity. Suppliers under the petites/tres petites entreprises (forfait) regime with turnover below XAF 100m do not charge VAT. From 2026, cash-paid expenses of XAF 200,000 or more are excluded from the VAT deduction right. ACCESS: the Journal officiel PDF at sgg.cg is a genuine text-layer PDF (116 pages) and greps cleanly; the ministry mirror at finances.gouv.cg carries the same law. RATE ORIGIN (established 2026-08-07 from the signed original law on sgg.cg, read visually — the scan has no text layer; adversarially re-verified): 18% has been the taux normal since the TVA was instituted by Loi n° 12-97 du 12 mai 1997, article 17. The lois de finances of 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2023 amended article 17's reduced-rate and zero-rate provisions, never the standard rate (per the consolidated recueil des textes fiscaux). effective_from carries the promulgation date; the law has no separate entry-into-force article. GAZETTE-LITERAL CITATION NOTE: the 2026 JO prints the finance law as 'Loi n° 42 du 31 décembre 2025' — the conventional style '42-2025' appears nowhere in the gazette itself. Until 2026-08-07 this series stamped the finance-law year; the instrument restates, the rate did not move.
Get it programmatically
curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cg/vat
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://afriref.dev/v1/cg/vat/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://afriref.dev/provenance/cg/vatOther Republic of the Congo series: Policy rate (BEAC TIAO) · VAT registration threshold · Minimum wage (SMIG) · Public holidays · Consumer price inflation (INHPC) · Corporate income tax (impot sur les societes) · Withholding tax rates · Statutory interest (taux d'intérêt légal) · Personal income tax (IRPP / impot sur les traitements et salaires) · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Rwanda · Senegal · South Africa · Tanzania · Togo · all 34