Cameroon works with OECD to fight against tax evasion of multinationals

Cameroon has officially become the 70th country to adhere to the convention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters. The act of accession to this convention has just been signed between OECD and the Cameroonian Minister of Finance, Alamine Ousmane Mey. It was in March 2015 that the Cameroonian government tabled a bill in parliament authorising the Head of State to sign Cameroon up to the above-mentioned convention.

Defending this bill before the MPs, the minister Alamine Ousmane Mey had explained then that this convention would offer to the “tax administration the opportunity to improve its capacity in collecting tax information, especially with regards to Cameroonian subsidiaries of multinationals whose parent companies are, for the most part, located in tax jurisdictions already party to the convention. This should lead to a better return in taxes, and hence, more significant resources for our country“.

Developed in 1988, then amended in 2010, this convention, according to OECD, is “the most comprehensive multilateral instrument and offers (to countries who sign up) all possible forms of tax cooperation to combat evasion and tax fraud“. Formerly only used by certain countries, this convention was opened to all countries on 1 June 2011.