Dayspring Law Firm provides high-level full-service and customized legal and business tax advisory services to the business community at home and abroad. The principal legal instrument which regulates tax law in Cameroon is the General Tax Code (GTC) which is amended at the end of every other year through finance laws in order to fine tune the GTC to the economic & financial conjecture. There are other instruments on local tax, accounting system (OHADA Uniform Act on accounting & GAAP), circulars of the Minister of Finance which clarify the substance of certain provisions of the GTC, laws regulating free trade zones, CEMAC regulation on registration rights, Tax Payer’s Charter, International Tax Treaties, Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), WTO law, Investment Incentives laws, OHADA business laws, sector specific legislation, doctrinal principles and case law.

Our clients usually request for legal opinions on different aspects of tax law, international taxation and foreign investment, transfer pricing regulations, property tax, intellectual property tax, international trade law, commercial law, estate & succession tax, tax implications of corporate reorganizations/restructuring, tax on movable capital, passive income tax, foreign account tax compliance, determination of trading income, sector specific taxation (oil & gas, mining, forestry, public contracting, banking, insurance, PPPs, infrastructure projects, drugs, and stock exchange), agricultural sector tax law, investment incentives, corporate income tax, capital gains tax (on sale of real estate, shares, and other business assets), withholding taxes (dividends, interests, IP royalties & fees for technical services, remittance tax, etc), Special Tax on Revenue (STR), operating losses (carry back & carry forward), VAT, excise, personal income tax, gifts, tax evasion and avoidance, inventory valuation, depreciation, fixed assets, business license, registration duties on commercial contracts, payroll taxes, social security contributions, foreign exchange control regulations, free trade zones, etc.

Our law firm works with certified accountants and tax consultants and participate in the legal aspects of preparing & filing statistical & tax returns. We equally work on tax dispute resolution by representing and assisting businesses before competent public bodies in charge of tax administration and control (regional tax centres, specialized tax centres, Directorate General of Taxation or DGT and the Ministry of Finance or MINFI) and judicial bodies (essentially the regional Administrative Courts and the Administrative Bench of the Supreme Court. Tax disputes have two phases, an administrative phase and a judicial phase.
The tax dispute commences with a tax audit (verification & control) which is generally followed by a tax adjustment notice, where applicable, and then a tax collection/recovery notice (In French Avis de Mise en Revouvrement abbreviated AMR). Throughout the process the taxpayer is given time to prepare data as well as the opportunity to defend himself and be assisted by counsel. The taxpayer equally has the option to comply with the recovery notice by paying the alleged tax liability. Otherwise, the dispute moves up from the grassroot administrative units, to the DGT and then the MINFI. Taxpayers have the possibility to settle tax disputes amicably at the level of the MINFI or move up to the judicial phase before the regionally competent administrative court. Our lawyers have experience assisting and representing clients at all of these levels of the tax litigation process and know what it takes to properly represent parties involved in such disputes.