If you are from the US or Europe you may be accustomed to a fairly well ordered (albeit overly complex) and bureaucratic system for paying your taxes. Maybe you are used to sending some numbers over to your accountant and letting him do all of the heavy lifting. Yes, in America and much of Europe it is a fairly straightforward process, for the most part. So, if you have recently moved and set up shop in Africa you may find that things are a little different. While the systems that are in place to collect taxes range widely from country to country we can probably all agree that Africa is the continent with some the most unorthodox tax collection practices in the world today.
The frustrating thing is that it can often be difficult to tell just much taxes various African countries are collecting because they simply are not reporting data which can be taken at face value.
With such poor, unreliable data (or even no data at all) coming out of so many countries it can be difficult to estimate what your tax debt will be ahead of time. This being the cases it is easy to see why many question African countriesí ability to spend foreign aid monies properly.
And when they do come to collect from you, youíre not going to be able to turn to a US based tax preparation company to tell you what to do. Oh no, its not that simple at all! Instead you are going to need to hire a local tax expert who specializes in the tax laws of whatever african country you are residing in. The good new is that because most african countries are less sophisticated when it comes to taxes, a qualified tax expert should be able to save you a ton of money. Just be sure that you check references, and if at all possible get a referal from someone you trust, ideally someone who understands your business and tax preparation needs.