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, cited to Loi n° 12-97 du 12 mai 1997 portant institution de la Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée. Last checked against the official source on 7 Aug 2026.
Official source: Loi n° 12-97 du 12 mai 1997 portant institution de la Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée · Last checked 2026-08-07 · source fingerprint
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
# $0.003 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/vatEmail me when this changes
Free. One email when an official figure we track changes — not when we re-check it. You confirm by email first, and every alert has a one-click unsubscribe.
Other 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