DR Congo nonresident payments

General reference only. This Guide is general tax reference material for AI-assisted workflows. It has not been reviewed for a particular taxpayer. Obtain review by a qualified professional before filing, paying or taking a tax position.

Who this applies to

Use this Guide for a person established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo receiving services from a non-established provider, or a company established there paying investment/passive income to a nonresident. The applicable domestic levy depends on the actual contract, recipient, establishment and payment date. It is not a universal tax on every outbound bank transfer. Law 23/053, arts. 142–144; Finance Act 25/060, arts. 40–44; Rectifying Act 26/032, arts. 14–18.

The initial Finance Act applies from 1 January 2026 under article 88, and Law 23/052 article 6 separately controls commencement of the service declaration procedure. Finance Act 25/060, art. 88; Law 23/052, art. 6.

The August amendment is effective from its promulgation, 7 August 2026. Its expanded passive-income definition must not silently be applied to an earlier payment. This Guide supplies the current ordinary branches and identifies earlier-period or mixed-contract questions that require referral. Mining, hydrocarbons, investment-code privileges and treaty-specific reductions are not established by this method. Rectifying Act 26/032, arts. 18, 51.

Rates, bands and thresholds

Payment or obligation	Domestic rule and conditions	Period	Official source
Services supplied to an established recipient by a non-established provider	14% of the gross invoice amount, withheld by the recipient of the services. First exclude unresolved establishment, treaty and passive-income classification issues.	2026	Law 23/053 arts. 142–144: https://dgi.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/loi-is-et-Irpp.pdf
Service taxable event and due event	Execution of the service or a service stage is the taxable event; payment of the price, an instalment or advance makes the levy due. Do not substitute invoice receipt alone for the payment event.	2026	Same, art. 143: https://dgi.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/loi-is-et-Irpp.pdf
Service declaration and remittance	Declaration accompanied by payment by the 15th of the month after payment of the invoices, to the DGI office managing the service recipient. Partial-payment allocation/form treatment remains unconfirmed here.	2026	Law 004/2003 art. 22 bis, as replaced by Law 23/052 art. 1: https://dgi.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/loi-is-et-Irpp.pdf
Investment income paid to a nonresident	20% of gross income, paid or made available by a company established in DR Congo. Use the statutory category applicable on the payment date.	From 1 January 2026; August expansion below	Finance Act 25/060 arts. 41–44, 88, inserting arts. 149 bis–quinquies: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Investment and other passive income paid to a nonresident	20% of gross income. The expanded definition covers qualifying dividends, interest, royalties, licence income, know-how/technical information and qualifying equipment payments, subject to the article 149 sexies conditions.	From 7 August 2026	Rectifying Act 26/032 arts. 14–18, amending arts. 149 bis–quater and adding art. 149 sexies: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lfr_2026/lfr_2026_recettes.pdf
Passive-income due event and withholding agent	Paid or made available to the beneficiary; the company established in DR Congo paying the income withholds.	2026, with August scope amendment	Finance Act 25/060 art. 44 / art. 149 quinquies: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Passive-income declaration and remittance	By the 15th of the following month after payment or making income available; declaration with payment to the DGI office managing the payer company.	2026	Finance Act 25/060 art. 39, the provision printed as procedure art. 22 quarter: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Rounding	First round a fractional franc to a whole franc, half up; then round a remaining fraction of a hundred francs to the nearest hundred, 50 upward. Confirm the portal's line-level implementation before filing.	2026	Law 23/053 art. 150: https://dgi.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/loi-is-et-Irpp.pdf
Failure or insufficient withholding	The person required to withhold is personally liable for the omitted withholding and associated penalties.	2026	Finance Act 25/060 art. 35 / procedure art. 96 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf

The base

1. Establish the recipient and provider. Obtain legal identity, residence, activities, contract and whether the foreign enterprise has a Congolese establishment. The company-tax statute includes fixed productive installations, an own-name professional activity lasting at least three months, a service activity through personnel for a period equal to three months, and construction/installation/supervision lasting more than six months. Dependent-agent and insurance cases also exist. Treaty wording and application of service periods need separate verification. Do not decide that an enterprise is non-established merely because the invoice has a foreign address. Law 23/053, arts. 7–8.
2. Classify the actual consideration. For a service under articles 142–144, retain what was performed, for whom, by whom and when. For a payment from 7 August, separately test article 149 sexies before treating it as an ordinary service. That article includes royalties for patents, trademarks, processes, software, databases and copyright; licence income; technical/commercial/industrial/scientific information, including know-how, technical assistance and specialised technical services; qualifying equipment consideration; and analogous passive income. Its opening definition concerns capital, financial assets or intangible rights where the income does not result from direct industrial, commercial, craft or agricultural activity in DR Congo. The equipment limb also has its own direct-activity condition. Law 23/053, arts. 142–144; Rectifying Act 26/032, art. 18 / art. 149 sexies.
3. Stop on an unresolved mixed or technical contract. A label such as "consultancy", "SaaS", "technical support" or "equipment hire" does not itself settle the service/passive-income boundary. Obtain the contract and evidence of rights, deliverables and actual activity. The overlap between service articles and the new passive-income wording is not resolved here. Do not automatically apply both levies, choose the lower rate, or invent an allocation. Earlier-period royalty/know-how treatment is also not certified by this Guide.
4. Build the correct gross base. For an accepted service branch use the gross invoice amount. For the passive-income branch use gross sums paid or made available. The old corporate draft's royalty treatment using a reduced net base is not authority for the new ordinary passive-income levy. No standard expense allowance appears in the supplied gross-base provisions. Law 23/053, art. 144; Finance Act 25/060, art. 42; Rectifying Act 26/032, art. 16.
5. Determine the due month and compute withholding. Distinguish service execution from the subsequent payment or advance. For passive income, a credit made available can matter before bank settlement. Record the gross base, applicable provision/period, withholding and net amount. Apply statutory rounding; do not imply that the example's arithmetic validates contract classification. Law 23/053, arts. 143, 150; Finance Act 25/060, art. 44.
6. Separate withholding from deduction and pricing. Paying withholding does not establish that the payer can deduct the expense. Document business purpose and evidence, required withholding declaration/payment, and applicable related-party restrictions. Use the transfer-pricing method for that separate analysis. Law 23/053, arts. 20, 46–48, 53.

Deadlines and filing

For the accepted branch, prepare a workpaper showing payer and recipient identifiers, tax residence/establishment evidence, contract and invoice, nature of consideration, applicable date/provision, gross amount, payment or availability date, withholding and statutory due date. This is a preparation checklist, not an official form specification.

The service declaration/payment goes to the office managing the service recipient under procedure article 22 bis. The passive-income declaration/payment goes to the office managing the payer company under the Finance Act's printed article 22 quarter. That spelling is retained to distinguish it from the separate 22 quater correction-of-return provision inserted by Finance Act article 23. Law 23/052, art. 1; Finance Act 25/060, arts. 23, 39.

The DGI links i-Impôts on its official IS page. The current service/passive-income return identifiers, boxes, foreign-currency conversion field, payment references and acknowledgement sequence are not verified here. Do not invent a form, certify a completed return or submit through an authenticated account using this Guide alone. Obtain the actual form and reconcile its fields and payment receipt before completion.

Penalties and interest

Procedure article 96 bis makes the withholding agent personally liable for withholding omitted or deducted insufficiently and the corresponding penalties. A net payment already made to the foreign supplier does not extinguish that statutory payer exposure. Finance Act 25/060, art. 35.

The full current late-filing, late-payment, interest and collection calculations have not been checked for these two levies. Record an overdue case and refer for that assessment; do not present a payment of principal alone as complete settlement.

Cross-border points

Treaty eligibility, beneficial ownership, permanent establishment and any relief application have not been verified for a particular counterparty state. Retain residence and establishment evidence and obtain the applicable treaty and relief procedure before using a reduced rate. This method supplies no treaty rate or automatic credit in the recipient's home country.

For payments from 7 August 2026, the expanded passive-income definition makes software rights, know-how, technical information and equipment consideration explicit screening questions. The same nominal outbound amount can therefore require a different domestic branch. Contracts within sector-specific incentives or mining/hydrocarbon legislation need their own current provisions; the old Guide's mining exception is not refreshed by this draft. Rectifying Act 26/032, arts. 14–18.

Two worked examples that recompute

1. Ordinary nonresident service invoice paid in full

Assume a November 2026 invoice of CDF 10,000,000 for an ordinary service supplied to a Congolese business by a non-established provider. A completed classification establishes that this is a service under articles 142–144, outside the unresolved passive-income/technical-services boundary, with no applicable privilege or treaty reduction. The invoice is paid in full. Withhold CDF 1,400,000 and pay CDF 8,600,000 net. File and remit by 15 December under article 22 bis. The amounts already satisfy article 150 rounding. Law 23/053, arts. 142–144, 150; Law 23/052, art. 1 / procedure art. 22 bis.

name: Ordinary nonresident service paid in full
inputs:
  gross_invoice_cdf: 10000000
  service_levy_rate: 0.14
steps:
  withholding_before_rounding: gross_invoice_cdf * service_levy_rate
  whole_franc_withholding: floor(withholding_before_rounding + 0.5)
  withholding: floor((whole_franc_withholding + 50) / 100) * 100
  net_supplier_payment: gross_invoice_cdf - withholding
expected:
  withholding_before_rounding: 1400000
  whole_franc_withholding: 1400000
  withholding: 1400000
  net_supplier_payment: 8600000

2. Classify a November software-rights payment before choosing the rate

Assume a Congolese company makes CDF 8,000,000 available in November 2026 to a nonresident for software rights that the reviewed contract establishes fall within article 149 sexies. The income meets that article's passive-income/direct-activity conditions, with no applicable treaty or sector adjustment. The ordinary passive-income branch produces CDF 1,600,000 withholding and CDF 6,400,000 net. Treating the same amount as an ordinary service would produce CDF 1,120,000 and understate this branch's withholding by CDF 480,000. This comparison explains the classification decision; it does not classify every software or SaaS contract. Rectifying Act 26/032, arts. 16–18 / arts. 149 ter, quater, sexies.

name: Passive software rights versus incorrectly selected service branch
inputs:
  gross_passive_income_cdf: 8000000
  passive_levy_rate: 0.20
  comparison_service_rate: 0.14
steps:
  correct_withholding: gross_passive_income_cdf * passive_levy_rate
  net_beneficiary_payment: gross_passive_income_cdf - correct_withholding
  incorrectly_selected_service_amount: gross_passive_income_cdf * comparison_service_rate
  understatement_if_wrong_branch: correct_withholding - incorrectly_selected_service_amount
expected:
  correct_withholding: 1600000
  net_beneficiary_payment: 6400000
  incorrectly_selected_service_amount: 1120000
  understatement_if_wrong_branch: 480000

Ask the client first

1. Who pays, who receives, where are both established/resident, and what local operations or personnel does the foreign provider have?
2. What rights, services, equipment or capital return does the signed contract actually supply?
3. What are the gross invoice/payment amounts, currency, execution dates, payment/advance dates and dates income was made available?
4. Is there a treaty, sector privilege, related-party link, mixed consideration or contractual tax-bearing clause requiring separate analysis?
5. What has already been withheld, declared, paid or credited, and what DGI notices or receipts exist?

Sources

Source and scope actually read	URL	Read on
DGI-hosted Journal officiel: Law 23/053 arts. 7–8, 20, 46–48, 53, 142–144, 150–153, and Law 23/052 art. 1 replacing procedure art. 22 bis and art. 6 commencement, read again during repair. Service levy scan visually checked; no authenticated form read.	https://dgi.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/loi-is-et-Irpp.pdf	2026-11-01
Budget Ministry, enacted Finance Act 25/060 arts. 23, 35, 39–44: withholding liability, passive-income levy and return; art. 88 commencement read and visually checked during repair. Read those scanned provisions and surrounding tax-amendment chapter using French OCR.	https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf	2026-11-01
Budget Ministry, rectifying Act 26/032 arts. 14–19 and 49–51: expanded passive-income definition, continuation and commencement. Passive-definition/rate and commencement scans visually checked.	https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lfr_2026/lfr_2026_recettes.pdf	2026-11-01
DGI official IS page: linked online declaration/payment entry point only.	https://dgi.gouv.cd/impot-sur-les-societes/	2026-11-01

Not yet confirmed: current return forms, boxes, exchange-rate instructions, partial-payment allocation, acknowledgements and payment-reference workflow; full penalties/interest; technical-service/passive-income overlap and mixed-contract allocation; earlier-period royalty/know-how treatment; treaty relief and procedures; sector/investment privileges and their 2026 adaptations; complete permanent-establishment attribution, residence, foreign-credit, exit and emigration methods. Earlier 2025 Guides remain unvalidated.