Niger

These measures, which are essentially aimed at broadening the tax base and strengthening the existing normative framework, include: 

• In terms of income tax, unrealized gains related to foreign exchange are not included in the taxable profit. When there is a probable exchange loss, the taxpayer makes a provision deductible from his taxable income. 
• The taxation of a portion of the amounts set aside in reserves by the companies as soon as these exceed 20% of the company’s share capital. When the funds exceed the limit, the excess is subject to the Dividend Tax at 50% of the undistributed net income. The tax rate is 15%. 
•  The repeal of the fictitious VAT mechanism consisted of the taxpayer calculating the VAT fictitiously on operations carried out with non-taxable persons. 
•  The exemption of VAT on services provided to oil companies and their subcontractors when the said services are directly related to the execution of oil operations. 
• Regarding tax audits, any document rejected or not presented during the audit operations, as recorded in an official report, is inadmissible in the litigation phase. 

In addition, in the event of hierarchical or jurisdictional referrals, the rate of advance payments to be made has been revised. From now, no payment is required in the event of a referral to the Head of the Tax Administration or the Minister of Finance. 

In case of a referral to the arbitration committee of tax appeals, the advance payment rate is set at 15% of the disputed amounts. In case of referral to the judge, the advance payment rate is set at 25% of the disputed amounts.

The advanced amount paid is fully refunded when the litigation procedure results in a decision in favour of the taxpayer.