Yaoundé

Salary from a foreign employer or fees from foreign clients

Taxed10%–35% progressive plus 10% council surcharge (up to 38.5%) on salary; 33% of net profit for freelancers

Domiciled people are taxed on their worldwide income (CGI Article 25), and salaries are taxable whenever the paid work is done in Cameroon (Article 30), so a salary from a foreign employer for work done from Cameroon is taxed even before you count as domiciled. From gross pay the Code deducts a flat 30% for professional expenses, capped at CFA 4,800,000 a year, plus mandatory pension contributions (Article 34) and a CFA 500,000 allowance (Article 29). Annual bands (Article 69): 10% up to CFA 2,000,000, 15% to 3,000,000, 25% to 5,000,000 and 35% above, each increased by 10% as centimes additionnels communaux, CAC (Article 71). A foreign employer does not withhold Cameroonian tax, so you report the salary on the annual return, due by 31 October for most individuals, and pay any balance with it (Article 74 bis). Freelancers with foreign clients earn non-commercial or business profits taxed at the 30% rate of Article 17 plus CAC, with a minimum of 2% of turnover plus CAC (Article 69(2)). Small businesses under CFA 50,000,000 of turnover (CFA 30,000,000 for liberal professions) fall under the Impôt Général Synthétique instead (see regimes). Treaties override these rules where they apply (Article 25), but Cameroon has few. Social security (CNPS) for people paid by a foreign employer was not reviewed.

On the nomad visa

Cameroon has no digital nomad or remote-work visa. Visitors apply for a visa through the official e-visa portal (evisacam.cm). No visa carries a tax regime: the domicile tests apply, and working from Cameroon can make you domiciled and taxable even on a short stay. You also need a tax certificate before an exit visa is issued (Article 99).

Dividends, interest, gains, rent and pensions from abroad

Taxed16.5% flat on foreign dividends and interest (15% plus CAC); rent, pensions and foreign share gains unclear

Investment income (revenus de capitaux mobiliers) bears a final 15% (Article 70), plus the 10% CAC (Article 71), so 16.5% in all. Foreign-source investment income of a person domiciled in Cameroon is withheld by any Cameroonian paying agent; when it is paid abroad you must report it on the annual return and pay the tax yourself (Article 86). Interest on any deposit counts, whoever holds it (Article 41). Dividends from Cameroonian companies with turnover up to CFA 3 billion pay 10% plus CAC, and income paid to tax havens pays 30% (Article 70). Several foreign items are not clearly covered by the Code: the rental income category covers only property in Cameroon (Article 46), the capital gains rule covers only shares of Cameroonian companies (Article 42), and pensions are deemed received in Cameroon when the payer is established there (Article 30). How foreign rent, foreign pensions and gains on foreign shares are taxed is therefore not clear; the Code lists stock-exchange gains of individuals as non-commercial profits (Article 56(2)(a)), taxed at 30% plus CAC, and leaves crypto-assets to a ministerial text (Article 42 bis). Rent from property in Cameroon pays 10% plus CAC (Articles 87–89); gains on Cameroonian property pay a final 5%, or 10% for cash sales (Article 90). Savings-account interest up to CFA 50 million of deposits is exempt (Article 43).

Net wealth and inheritance

No wealth taxInheritance tax applies

Cameroon has no net wealth tax. The 2026 Finance Law explanatory memo says the idea of a tax on real-estate wealth was dropped in favour of making the land tax (taxe sur la propriété foncière) progressive; it was a flat 0.1% of property value, and rates by zone are now set by a separate text (CGI Articles C 49–C 53). Inheritance duties (droits de mutation par décès) are charged on the whole net estate at 1% up to CFA 5,000,000, 2% to 10,000,000, 3% to 50,000,000, 4% to 500,000,000 and 5% above, whatever the relationship (Articles 348 and 544). They cover property in Cameroon and intangible assets abroad of a person domiciled in Cameroon, declared within one year (Article 279). Gifts pay 5% in the direct line and between spouses, 10% between siblings and 20% otherwise (Article 544). Property sales pay registration duties of 10% for built urban property, 5% for unbuilt urban land and 2% for unbuilt rural land (Article 543), plus the 5% gains tax.

Tax resident after

home or ties test

Top income tax rate

38.5%

When you become tax resident

Cameroon uses a tax-domicile test with no day count (Code général des impôts, Article 25). You are domiciled if any one of these applies: your home (foyer) or place of principal stay is in Cameroon; you carry on a salaried or self-employed professional activity in Cameroon, unless you show it is only incidental; or the centre of your economic interests is in Cameroon. The Code has no 183-day rule; a 183-day test appears only in some tax treaties. Because "principal stay" is not defined in days, a short visit alone may not make you domiciled, but the activity test can: a remote worker or freelancer whose main work is done from Cameroon is domiciled even on a short stay. Non-domiciled people are taxed only on Cameroonian-source income. Before leaving Cameroon you must file a return of income earned up to the departure date, and an exit visa or passport is issued only on a certificate from the tax centre (Article 99).

Top income tax rate

In Douala, and everywhere in Cameroon: 35% on net taxable salary above CFA 5,000,000 a year (CGI Article 69) plus the 10% centimes additionnels communaux charged on the tax (Article 71), giving 38.5%. There is no other regional or municipal income tax. The scale was not changed by the 2026 Finance Law. Freelance and business profits pay 30% plus CAC, so 33%.