In early January 2018, the Presidency of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea published the Law n° 9/2017, dated 20 November 2017, on the waiver of certain tax debts for tax incentive purposes (the tax amnesty program).

This Law follows the need for the Government, to address the economic downturn within the CEMAC¹ Zone and in Equatorial Guinea, by increasing public revenue while reducing tax burdens.

The waiver concerns the automatic amnesty of Corporate Income Tax, Personal Income Tax, Value Added Tax and Land registration duties.

Amnesty is offered as follows:

• A total waiver of non-declared tax debts through Fiscal Year (FY) 2014
• A 50% waiver of tax debts for FYs 2015 and 2016
• A 15% waiver of tax debts for FY 2017
• A fixed rate for land registration duties

The waiver of tax debts is opened to taxpayers who have filed their taxes for the FY 2017, and which are not involved in exploration, exploitation and production of hydrocarbons.

Qualified taxpayers need to file a Special Tax Return which leads to the signature of a Tax Waiver Agreement with the Tax Administration.

Future Alerts will cover any developments regarding the amnesty program.

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ENDNOTE

¹ Central African Economic and Monetary Community.

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CONTACTS

For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:

FFA Ernst & Young, Malabo

• Alexis Moutome
  alexis.moutome@gq.ey.com
• Maxime Mbassi
  maxime.augustin.mbassi@gq.ey.com
• Davy Ondo
  georges.obiang@gq.ey.com

Ernst & Young LLP (United Kingdom), Pan African Tax Desk, London

• Rendani Neluvhalani
  rendani.mabel.neluvhalani@uk.ey.com
• Byron Thomas
  bthomas4@uk.ey.com

Ernst & Young LLP, Pan African Tax Desk, New York

• Silke Mattern
  silke.mattern@ey.com
• Dele A. Olaogun
  dele.olaogun@ey.com
• Jacob Shipalane
  jacob.shipalane1@ey.com

Ernst & Young LLP, Pan African Tax Desk, Houston

• Elvis Ngwa
  elvis.ngwa@ey.com

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ATTACHMENT

PDF version of this Tax Alert