News

The mining sector is an important contributor to tax revenues in many African countries. In 2015, the extractive sector accounted for more than 20% of the total revenues of nine countries on the continent. Mining tax systems must then both attract investors and ensure sufficient revenues for governments. Following the increase in commodity prices in the second half of the 2000s, most African countries reformed their mining laws in order to capture a larger share of the rent generated by mining companies. This trend continues: mining royalty rates are rising, mineral resource rent taxes are reappearing, and free equity for the state is becoming more and more common.

Updated tax data for 2019 are now available for Congo, Mali and Mauritania.
In the Republic of the Congo, mining taxation has not changed (Act No. 40-2018 of 28 December 2018). In Mali, a new Mining Act has been adopted (Ordinance No. 2019-022/P-RM of 27 September 2019). However, since its entry into force dates from the end of 2019, it will not appear in the database until 2020. In Mauritania, a new General Tax Code has been adopted (Act No. 2019-018 of 29 April 2019). The rate of corporate minimum tax has been reduced to 2%. The value added tax rate has been increased to 20% for petroleum products.

In Mauritania, the corporate minimum tax has been modified by the new General Tax Code (Section 51 of Act No. 2019-018 of 29 April 2019). Since 2009, the minimum tax was set at 2.5% of turnover. Since 2019, this rate is now reduced to 2% of taxable revenue for large companies. In addition, the minimum amount is increased to 100,000 ougouiya. However, the applicable rate remains fixed at 2.5% of taxable revenue for medium-size companies.

In Mauritania, the value added tax (VAT) was introduced in 1995. The standard rate is now set at 16%, instead of 14% before 2015. Since 2010, however, petroleum products and telephony have been subject to an increased rate of 18%. In 2019, the new General Tax Code first attempted to increase this rate to 20% for petroleum products (Act No. 2019-018 of 29 April 2019). However, the Finance Act, 2020, finally reduced the rate for petroleum products to the standard rate of 16% (Act No. 2020-001 of 10 January 2020). Henceforth, only telephony is still subject to the increased rate of 18%.

Updated tax data for 2019 are now available for Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger.
In Burkina Faso, mining taxation has not changed (Act No. 042/2018/AN of 18 December 2018). In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the normal rate of corporate income tax was reduced to 30% (Finance Act No. 18/025 of 13 December 2018) and a new order setting the rates of duties, taxes and royalties to be collected at the initiative of the Ministry of Mines was issued (Inter-ministerial Order No. 0001/CAB.MIN/MINES/01/2019 and No. CAB/MIN/FINANCES/2019/009 of 22 February 2019). In Niger, the derogatory tax measures present in the sectoral laws were brought together in the tax code by the Finance Act, 2019 (Act No. 2018-79 of 17 December 2018).