(Business in Cameroon) - Real estate owners in Cameroon have less than 30 days to pay their property tax, otherwise they risk penalties, the tax administration is reminding the general public. This reminder is even more important as 2017 will be the first year when penalties on this tax are effectively applied in the country.

Indeed, it was only during the 2015 budget year that the Cameroonian inland revenue administration stepped up the collection of this tax (only in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala), previously neglected by many taxpayers.

In 2016, to encourage real estate owners to pay this tax (now generalised throughout the country), the Cameroonian government decreed an amnesty for the previous years, for all taxpayers who would start paying from that year onward.

2017 thus represents the end of this amnesty. Initially scheduled for March 2017, the deadline for the payment of the property tax in Cameroon was pushed to 30 September, to enable most taxpayers to avoid finding them at risk of paying penalties of up to 100% of the amount due.

BRM