Two Telecom companies, MTN and Orange, have partnered with the Cameroun Govt to introduce a Mobile Tax Service.
The government said the service will help millions of taxpayers in the country pay their property taxes via mobile money.
Cameroon has a population of 20 million people, and property tax collection is estimated to reach a mere US$16 million, as millions of property owners are said to be evading this type of tax.
Under the terms of Mobile Tax, taxpayers must, first of all, open an Orange Money account or MTN Mobile Money account before they can be able to use the service. The account will be stored in the state tax department via the MTN and Orange mobile money database.
Alamine Ousmane Mey, Cameroon’s Finance Minister said the service will be available 24 hours a day, and will be deployed in two phases. In the first phase, Mobile Tax will be exclusively reserved for property tax on real estate properties, the minister said, adding that this is only for landowners who own property in the capital Yaoundé and Douala.
Douala is Cameroon’s commercial capital and the country’s second-largest city. The second phase consists of expanding the range of solutions of tax payment with MTN and Orange partners, Mey said.
This will culminate ultimately to the adaptation of Mobile Tax to all taxes and fees provided for in the General Code of taxes, the minister explained.
