Côte d'Ivoire's director general of taxes, Abou Sié Ouattara, said Monday that studies were underway to "resegment" small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) according to their turnover, during a panel on the Ivorian tax system.

"Studies are underway and should be able to give birth in the 2021 tax schedule at the latest (of a device that will) resegment SMEs," said Mr. Ouattara, during a panel on the Ivorian tax system, on the occasion of the 2019 edition of Cgeci Academy, an economic forum of the Ivorian Employers.

According to him, "there will therefore be the status of the entrepreneur, the microenterprise, the small enterprise and the medium-sized enterprise", a new segmentation that will be done "by slice of turnover".

"We thought we were ready for 2020, but it's too fair, but I can tell you that there are good surprises coming in terms of setting up a tax system adapted to small and medium-sized enterprises," added the Director General of Taxes.

In Côte d'Ivoire, an SME that is created, it is exempt from a license for five years and can benefit from tax credit on profit or job creation from at least two jobs. The one, having real estate assets, is exempt from property tax over two years up to 25%.

Ouattara noted that the country is one of the states in the world where SMEs, "only," can contact the tax administration for a tax audit without penalty. And this, by benefiting from the assistance of the tax directorate in order to correct their inadequacies.

"We are considering in the long term, I do not yet have the formula, but it will certainly have a structure to frame local taxation," continued Mr. Ouattara for whom "the Ivorian tax system is attractive and is not completed (because) the reforms continue at the legislative and organizational level".

The Ivorian Vice-President, Kablan Duncan, who wants "better tax justice", announced at the opening of the forum a broadening of the tax base with a view to lowering the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) so that the tax does not weigh on a category of companies.

SMEs in Côte d'Ivoire are considered as entities with a turnover of less than 1 billion CFA francs. For this edition of Cgeci Academy which takes place from 14 to 15 October 2019, the guest of honor is Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, for his "leadership".