The 2023 tax schedule raises the rate of excise duties on tobacco products by one point, a measure aimed at increasing tax revenues.The Ivorian Employers’ Association organized on Thursday, January 5, 2023 a session to explain the tax 2023 annex to the private sector. 

The system was presented by the firm Mondon Conseil International.

The tax expert and accountant, Nina Kacou, said that this increase in the rate of excise duty results in an effective tax rate of tobacco products of 48 percent, or 41 percent of excise duty, 5 percent special tax on sports and 2 percent for the contribution in the fight against AIDS.

Article 4 of Tax Schedule 2023 raises the rate of excise duty on tobacco products by one point from 40 percent to 41 percent, she said. 

This rate is still below the 50 percent rate provided for in the ECOWAS and UEMOA community directives.

Since the 2018 schedule, there has been a one-point increase each year in the rate of excise duties applicable to tobacco. 

The 2022 tax schedule has not deviated from this rule by increasing by one point the rate of excise duty applicable to tobacco, which rose from 39 percent to 40 percent the previous year. 

If this rate increases by one point over the next two years, taxation could reach the minimum rate of 50 percent provided for in the ECOWAS and UEMOA community directives on the harmonization of member states’ legislation on tobacco excise duties.

The 2023 budget is balanced in terms of revenue and expenditure at 11,994,363,921 CFA francs, and the estimated tax revenue is 5,282,064,101 CFA francs. 

Tax revenues are up 18 percent, compared to the previous year.

This tax, which is part of an effort to increase state revenue, was published in the official Gazette on December 28, 2022, but was released on Wednesday, January 4, 2023. 

Its provisions, in accordance with the law, come into force on Monday, January 9, 2023.