La neutralité de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée en droit fiscal congolais : une contribution à l'étude des voies et moyens pour un traitement TVA efficace des petites et moyennes entreprises dans le contexte congolais
(2016)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Traversa, Edoardo
- Abstract
- As in most states, Congolese VAT legislation – in force since 2012 – is based on the neutrality principle. The neutrality principle aims to guarantee that VAT is applied to all economic activities in order to avoid distortions of competition between liable enterprises. This doctoral thesis first clarifies the concept of “neutrality” and determines the scope of this concept in the field of VAT. Second, we analyze the mechanisms that ensure the application of the neutrality principle under VAT Congolese law in comparison with European Union law and Belgian law. It appears that, in these three legal orders, neutrality is first guaranteed by the generalization of VAT to all economic activities. This suggests that no economic activity can escape from being burdened by VAT. This logically results in a rather broad view of the fundamental concepts of “economic activity” and “taxable transaction”. Secondly, neutrality is ensured by the rule of proportionality of VAT to the final price of goods and services. This rule is applied through the deduction of input VAT and the fractioned payments of VAT at each stage of the economic cycle. This rule requires that VAT is paid at each stage of the production or distribution chain, while ensuring that input VAT has been recovered by the economic operator in principle by deduction. Finally, the Congolese law ensures neutrality of VAT through the application of a single rate to all goods and services, except for the zero rating of exports and similar transactions. Regarding European Union law and Belgian law, they apply a multi-rate VAT system considered contrary to the neutrality principle. However, the Congolese VAT law is not fully neutral. It contains imprecisions, inadequacies or gaps in relation to certain key concepts. This situation may adversely affect, either the taxpayers or the Treasury. Taxable persons may be deprived of their right to recover the input VAT paid to their suppliers. Moreover, the tax authorities may waive the requirement to pay VAT on certain operations or economic activities. Therefore, this doctoral thesis formulates proposals to solve the above identified issues, which are consistent with a more neutral Congolese VAT system. Furthermore, it may be observed that the difficulty of applying general rules to all situations is the cause of the organization of special schemes derogating from the VAT neutrality principle. The objective is to ensure a VAT treatment that takes into account specific situations. The application of the special schemes for certain categories of taxpayers is thus legitimate. In this case, SMEs are emblematic of the difficulty of applying the VAT general scheme to all situations. In this respect, it has been found that the VAT treatment of SMEs is not sufficiently organized in the Congolese VAT system. The specificities of these economic entities – plural and multi-sectoral reality – are insufficiently taken into account by VAT Congolese law. The notion of “SME” is not explicitly defined. In addition, they are few mechanisms dedicated to the VAT treatment of these companies that nevertheless dominate the Congolese economy. In this regard, this doctoral work aims to design an effective VAT regime for the Congolese SMEs. Such regime would allow not only mobilizing the fiscal potential of these entities, but also taking into account their specificities and plural and multi-sectoral nature.
- Affiliations
Citations
Mastaki Namegabe, J. (2016). La neutralité de la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée en droit fiscal congolais : une contribution à l’étude des voies et moyens pour un traitement TVA efficace des petites et moyennes entreprises dans le contexte congolais. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/74046