Living in Cameroon: tax residency, salary scales and capital gains tax

Cameroon imposes personal income tax (IRPP) on all individuals with a tax residence there, subject to international agreements. A resident must declare all their worldwide income. Employees are taxed according to a scale ranging from 10% to 35%, while dividends are taxed at 16.5% at the standard rate. France may, in parallel, continue to consider you as a resident there: the 1976 tax treaty governs this distinction between the two countries.

This page is based on two fact sheets from the Cameroonian Directorate General of Taxes (DGI), published without a date and accessed on October 18, 2026, and on the convention. A Cameroonian General Tax Code, 2026 edition, is published on the DGI website; we were unable to read Articles 24, 25, and 74 bis, nor the personal income tax (IRPP) scale. The cited articles come from the fact sheets: verify each figure in the code before relying on it. This page does not address Cameroonian social security, investing savings locally, or visas.

Article 25: Who is domiciled in Cameroon?

According to the DGI (General Directorate of Taxes) information sheet, Article 25 of the General Tax Code establishes the principle: "All natural persons with a tax domicile in Cameroon are subject to personal income tax." The information sheet describes as domiciled in Cameroon the following persons:

• have their home or main place of residence in Cameroon; ;
• carry out a professional activity there, whether salaried or not, unless it is carried out on an ancillary basis; ;
• their center of economic interests is there.

The document does not specify a minimum number of days. Nor does it indicate whether any one of these three points is sufficient: this is verified in the text of the tax code. It also includes among tax residents those taxable under a tax treaty.

These criteria are those of Cameroonian law. When France also considers you to be domiciled there, Article 2 of the convention determines your status: first, your permanent home, meaning the center of your vital interests; then, your longest period of residence; and finally, your nationality. Details can be found on our page about the convention.

Global income for residents, Cameroonian income for others

The information sheet is clear for residents: "All tax residents in Cameroon are required to declare all their worldwide income." It gives the example of dividends from a foreign company, taxable in Cameroon, without specifying the applicable tax rate. It also applies to individuals, whether residents or not, who receive income from Cameroonian sources.

Article 24 of the tax code classifies income into seven categories: wages, salaries, pensions, and annuities; income from movable capital; property income; industrial and commercial profits; agricultural profits; profits from non-commercial professions; and other non-commercial income. According to the information sheet, retirement pensions therefore fall under the category of wages and salaries.

The salary scale

The "Salaries and Wages" sheet describes the calculation as follows:

The employer withholds tax from each payment and remits it no later than the 15th of the following month. No tax is withheld if the monthly salary is less than 62,000 CFA francs. The tax brackets on the payslip apply to salaries; we do not provide brackets for other categories.

Dividends and interest: IRCM

For income from movable capital (IRCM), the document gives three rates, including CAC:

The second document from the DGI (General Directorate of Taxes), which summarizes the main taxes, lists the IRCM (Income Tax on Capital Gains) at 15 % in a column titled "excluding CAC" (excluding CAC): the two documents are consistent. The payer has 15 days after payment to remit the tax. The document specifies higher rates in certain cases, which this page does not detail.

The France-Cameroon tax treaty caps the corporate state tax on dividends for the beneficial owner at 15% (Article 13, § 2). This page does not address how this cap interacts with the standard domestic tax rate of 16.5%: this question depends on your specific situation and should be verified with local legal counsel.

Declare: June 30

Non-professional taxpayers must file an annual summary income tax return "no later than June 30 of each year" (Article 74 bis of the tax code, cited in the information sheet). Late payment of personal income tax is subject to interest and penalties, the rates of which are provided in the information sheet; verify these rates before relying on a payment deadline.

Inheritance and inheritance: what the DGI fact sheet provides

The second sheet, which summarizes the main taxes, indicates, excluding the CAC (Capital Gains Tax): a capital gains tax on real estate sales of 5 %, a land property tax of 0.1 %, registration fees on transfers upon death according to a progressive scale referring to Article 544-Bb of the tax code, and a proportional tax on transfers during one's lifetime at the rates of 15 %, 10 %, 5 %, 2 %, or 1 %. The sheet also mentions fixed fees. The rates for the inheritance tax scale are not included in the sheet, which is presented as a summary. Therefore, we are not providing a cost estimate for a Cameroonian inheritance.

On the convention side, articles 27 to 34 A deal with successions: real estate is subject to inheritance tax only in the State where it is located, other property in the State where the deceased was domiciled at the time of death (articles 28 and 32).

Wages and the 183-day threshold

If you remain employed by a French employer and reside in Cameroon, Article 22 of the convention sets the threshold at 183 days per tax year, subject to two other conditions. This is not the Cameroonian residency threshold, which the DGI (French Tax Authority) information sheet does not specify.

Salary of 12,000,000 CFA francs and dividend of 5,000,000 CFA francs: numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation. A hypothetical employee residing in Cameroon receives 12,000,000 CFA francs gross per year. He also receives a dividend of 5,000,000 CFA francs, paid by a Cameroonian company (this is a hypothetical example).

Issue. He wants to estimate the tax resulting from the scale described by the DGI, ignoring his social security contributions, the details of which do not specify how they relate to allowances.

Strategy. He applies the 30 % allowance, then the 500,000 CFA franc allowance, passes the income into the four brackets, adds the 10 % of CAC, then applies the IRCM rate to the dividend.

Result. The 30% allowance reduces the amount from 12,000,000 to 8,400,000 CFA francs, then to 7,900,000 after the 500,000 allowance. The tax brackets are 200,000, 150,000, 500,000, and 1,015,000 CFA francs, totaling 1,865,000 CFA francs in personal income tax. With 186,500 CFA francs in capital gains tax, the total amounts to 2,051,500 CFA francs. On the dividend, assumed to be paid by a Cameroonian company, the standard rate of 16.5% from the tax form gives 825,000 CFA francs. At the rate of 11 % applicable to securities listed on the BVMAC, 550,000 CFA francs. The document does not provide the rate for a dividend from a foreign company: the example does not address this. This calculation is for illustrative purposes only: the employer's actual calculation may differ, and the 15 % ceiling of the agreement is not included.

What changes depending on your situation

• Your home: residence, professional activity, center of economic interests, and Article 2 of the convention if France also detains you.
• The nature of your income: wages, investment capital, real estate, self-employment.
• Whether your securities are listed or not.
• The status of your assets, for the purposes of transfer and inheritance taxes.

The rule depends on your situation. No results are guaranteed.