The Democratic Republic of the Congo taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on DRC-source income only. No specific CFC provisions exist in DRC law. The DRC operates a self-assessment system. The DRC became the 35th African country to endorse the Yaounde Declaration on tax transparency in late 2025, a real, dated development reflecting the country's ongoing engagement with international tax cooperation standards.
The DRC tax year is the calendar year.
Congo (DRC)'s headline corporate income tax (CIT) rate is 30%.
The headline personal income tax (PIT) rate is 40%.
The standard VAT/GST (or equivalent consumption tax) rate is 16%.
Article 62 of the DRC Tax Code broadly defines residency: an individual is resident if they have a real, effective, permanent home available, or if their domicile, family, center of vital interests, or center of business is in the DRC. Tax authorities also examine whether a foreigner spends more than 183 days a year in the DRC as a supporting factor. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents only on DRC-source income (a territorial/source-based system for the country generally).
A non-Congolese entity has a DRC permanent establishment through a fixed place of business or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts in the DRC on the entity's behalf, following the OECD Model Treaty definition as applied under DRC domestic law and any applicable tax treaty.
No specific CFC provisions exist in DRC law.
There are no general thin capitalization rules in DRC tax legislation. However, the Mining Code separately requires that a mining license holder's borrowed-funds-to-own-funds ratio not exceed 75/25, and the OHADA Treaty (applicable regional business law) requires shareholders' equity to exceed half of authorized share capital.
The DRC does not use an elective check-the-box classification system; entity classification generally follows the entity's actual legal characteristics. The DRC does not have a comprehensive ATAD2-style anti-hybrid regime.
No foreign bank account or foreign financial asset reporting regime exists requiring residents to separately disclose foreign accounts; foreign income is reported through the standard annual tax return.
The DRC does not provide a broad participation exemption for foreign dividends; relief from double taxation is available primarily through the DRC's foreign tax credit system.
The DRC has a foreign tax credit mechanism for foreign tax paid on foreign-source income also taxed domestically, capped at the DRC tax otherwise due on that income.
The DRC's treaty network is very limited: tax treaties with South Africa and Belgium are the ones effectively implemented.