Niger finance bill amends article on taxation of income from transferable securities

 By Moïse Gnakouri, Doctoral researcher, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels

On December 20, 2021, Niger’s parliament adopted the new finance bill for the year 2022. The text was subsequently published in Niger’s official gazette on December 31, 2021.

The finance bill makes many changes in tax matters, including an amendment of the article concerning the taxation of income from transferable securities.

The bill makes important changes to article 70 of Niger’s general tax code and, more particularly, on the material scope of the tax on income from transferable securities. This amendment clearly broadens the scope of application of this article by adding new categories of deemed distributed incomes.

The general tax code of Niger provides for the taxation of deemed distributed income as income from transferable securities. In the previous version of Article 70, only the following were considered as deemed distributed income: adjustments to profits deemed to have been disinvested and other reintegration relating to:

• omissions or concealment of income ;
• the nondeductible fraction of interest paid to shareholders in remuneration of their deposits in current accounts in credit;
• and, in general, to all deductions of expenses that may result in an enrichment of the shareholders.

Nonrefundable sums made available to shareholders directly or through intermediaries as advances or loans were included, as well.

According to the new provisions of Article 70, the following are now considered as deemed distributed income, in addition to the categories already defined in the previous version: 

• all profits or profits made on the sale that are not placed in reserve or incorporated into capital;
• all sums or values made available to the shareholders and not taken from the profits;
• in case of transfer of the company or cessation of activity, the profits and reserves, capitalized or not, are deemed to be distributed to the shareholders in proportion to their initial share.

According to Niger’s general tax code, income from transferable securities is subject to tax rates ranging from 0% to 15% with preferential rates for income from shares listed on the regional financial market (BRVM).

The provisions of the new Article 70 went into force on January 1, 2022.