DR Congo transfer pricing

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 method for an enterprise operated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, not the Republic of Congo. For the 2026 income year, Law 23/053 article 53 governs indirect transfers of profits to foreign controlled or controlling enterprises. It compares the actual profits with those that would have arisen without dependence or control. The documentation and reporting populations are separate tests under Law 004/2003, as amended by Finance Act 25/060. That Finance Act applies from 1 January 2026 under its article 88; the reform procedure Act has its own commencement rule in Law 23/052 article 6. Law 23/053, arts. 53, 153; Law 23/052, art. 6; Finance Act 25/060, arts. 25–28, 88.

A documentation threshold is not an exemption from article 53. A small enterprise can receive a targeted audit information request under article 29 bis even when it is outside article 24 bis. The August rectifying Act preserves unamended provisions of the original Finance Act. Finance Act 25/060, art. 28; Rectifying Act 26/032, art. 49.

Rates, bands and thresholds

Test or obligation	Rule and conditions	Tax year	Official source
Own-enterprise documentation test	Annual turnover excluding taxes or gross assets of at least CDF 10,000,000,000. Do not use net assets or require both measures to reach the threshold.	2026	Finance Act 25/060 art. 25, replacing procedure art. 24 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Downstream ownership test	At year end, direct or indirect majority ownership of capital or voting rights in a domestic or foreign enterprise meeting the same turnover-or-gross-assets threshold also triggers documentation.	2026	Same, art. 25 / procedure art. 24 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Upstream ownership test	At year end, the enterprise's capital or voting rights are majority-held directly or indirectly by a domestic or foreign enterprise meeting that threshold.	2026	Same, art. 25 / procedure art. 24 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Full documentation availability	Master file and local file must be available at the first on-site audit intervention, with transaction evidence retained separately.	2026	Same, art. 25 / procedure art. 24 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Missing or incomplete audit documentation	A formal notice specifies the missing material and gives five days to produce or complete it.	2026	Same, art. 25 / procedure art. 24 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Annual TP declaration	Article 24 bis enterprises file electronically by the same deadline as the IS return, ordinarily 30 April following the income year. The older two-month-after-IS-return wording is superseded.	2026	Same, arts. 18, 26 / procedure arts. 12, 24 ter: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Targeted request outside the documentation population	A precise article 29 bis request gives 15 days to respond. This is a separate procedure from the five-day documentation notice.	2026	Same, art. 28 / procedure art. 29 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Ultimate-parent CbC revenue test	Previous-year consolidated annual turnover excluding taxes at least the CDF equivalent of USD 850,000,000, alongside the consolidation and ultimate-parent conditions. Other local-filing branches also require screening.	2026	Same, art. 27 / procedure art. 24 quinquies: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
CbC deadline	Electronic filing within 12 months after fiscal year end, when article 24 quinquies requires a local filing.	2026	Same, art. 27 / procedure art. 24 quinquies: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Documentation default after formal notice	Per audited year, 2% of the transactions affected by missing documents, subject to a CDF 100,000,000 minimum. It is not 2% of the tax adjustment.	2026	Same, art. 34 / procedure art. 93 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Annual TP declaration default	Late, incomplete or inaccurate declaration: CDF 100,000,000.	2026	Same, art. 34 / procedure art. 93 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
CbC declaration default	Late, incomplete or inaccurate declaration: CDF 150,000,000.	2026	Same, art. 34 / procedure art. 93 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf
Article 29 bis request default	Failure to supply the requested information: CDF 10,000,000 per day until communication, established by the audit officer and claimed through an assessment notice.	2026	Same, art. 33 / procedure art. 92 bis: https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf

The base

1. Identify the link before looking at value. Article 53 includes relative majority capital ownership, indirect ownership chains, actual decision power, voting rights sufficient for effective control, common management or shared interests, contractual/commercial/financial dependence, and common control by a third entity. Its entity definition extends to enterprises, companies, associations, joint ventures, trusts and fiduciary arrangements. A fixed majority percentage is not the only substantive test. Law 23/053, art. 53.
2. Identify every way value moves. Reconcile goods, services, financing, royalties, waived income, free services, debt/commission waivers and other group benefits. Article 53 expressly reaches more than mispriced invoices. Law 23/053, art. 53.
3. Test the independent outcome. Assemble the contracts, actual functions, assets, risks, delivery evidence, comparable terms and pricing calculation. The statutory comparison is with the profits without dependence or control. An article 29 bis audit request can require complete functional and comparability analyses and the method used. Do not invent a statutory safe harbour, preferred method or accepted range from this Guide. Law 23/053, art. 53; Finance Act 25/060, art. 28.
4. Compute the identified transfer. Record the difference between the actual and supported independent outcome, the affected transaction and the resulting profit adjustment. Then reconcile the company's taxable result separately. A calculation does not establish the reliability of the benchmark or authorise a unilateral treaty/corresponding adjustment. Law 23/053, art. 53.
5. Check deduction restrictions separately. Related-party pricing does not establish deductibility. Article 46 separately requires an actual service, inability to obtain it from a person established in DR Congo, and an independent remuneration amount for the payments within that provision. Article 47 separately tests payments to an unrelated person in a privileged-tax jurisdiction; article 48 denies deductions for payments to listed non-cooperative jurisdictions. Do not substitute an OECD or EU list for the Congolese ministerial list. Current list identification is a declared gap. Law 23/053, arts. 46–48.
6. Retain transaction evidence even with group files. The statutory master/local-file requirement does not replace invoices, contracts and other evidence for each transaction. The detailed ministerial file specifications remain unconfirmed here. Finance Act 25/060, art. 25.

Deadlines and filing

Create three separate workpapers: the article 53 transaction/adjustment analysis; the article 24 bis/24 ter documentation and annual-return screening; and the article 24 quinquies CbC screening. Keep each test's own taxpayer, period, ownership chain, amounts and evidence. Law 23/053, art. 53; Finance Act 25/060, arts. 25–28.

The electronic annual TP declaration contains group identity and ultimate-parent address; activities; group pricing policy and changes; intangible owners and their jurisdictions; restructurings affecting functions, risks or assets; and the local enterprise's activities, controlled transactions, loans/borrowings, free or non-cash transactions, and foreign advance-pricing agreements or rulings. Reconcile it to the accounts and documentation rather than submitting the master file as a substitute return. Finance Act 25/060, art. 26 / procedure art. 24 ter.

For CbC, screen ultimate-parent consolidation, turnover and ownership conditions; foreign-parent local-filing branches; systemic-failure notification; and the cumulative substitute-filing conditions. Those conditions include an equivalent foreign filing obligation, an effective automatic-exchange agreement, no notified systemic failure, actual exchange, foreign notification of the designated filer and Congolese notification identifying the filer and its tax residence. A foreign filing alone does not prove local exemption. The required exchange list, notification model and electronic schema are not verified here. Finance Act 25/060, art. 27 / procedure art. 24 quinquies.

The DGI links i-Impôts as its online declaration/payment entry point on its IS page. The TP form number, authenticated menu, field identifiers, upload schema, submission receipt and payment reference have not been inspected. This Guide cannot supply a completed electronic filing. Stop before submission until the current form and receipt process are confirmed. Do not invent fields to fill the gap.

Penalties and interest

Use the distinct statutory penalties in the table only when their triggering facts exist. Retain the formal notice and its identified deficiencies before calculating a documentation-default fine. For a below-threshold article 29 bis request, keep the precise request, response deadline and actual communication date. Do not count a five-day documentation deadline as a 15-day information request. Finance Act 25/060, arts. 25, 28, 33–34.

These amounts do not certify the entire penalty assessment. The general late-payment interest, additional tax, procedure for disputing an assessment and interaction between concurrent defaults still need current-law verification. They remain outside the supplied computation.

Cross-border points

Article 53 removes the dependence/control condition for transfers to enterprises in a privileged-tax or non-cooperative foreign jurisdiction. Article 47 treats the foreign regime as privileged if the enterprise is not taxable in that state, or, if taxed there, its foreign profit/income-tax amount is more than half lower than the ordinary Congolese IS amount that would arise if it were operated there. It is an amount-based statutory comparison, not a blanket residence-country headline-rate shortcut. Article 48 requires the Congolese ministerial non-cooperative list. Law 23/053, arts. 47–48, 53.

Withholding, foreign permanent-establishment attribution and any treaty or mutual-agreement relief are separate work. Do not assume an arm's-length price supplies a withholding exemption, treaty residence, a corresponding foreign adjustment or CbC exchange relief. This Guide does not determine those results.

Two worked examples that recompute

1. Supported independent sales price

Assume an article 53 cross-border controlled sale of 10,000 identical units. Actual revenue is CDF 980 per unit. A completed comparability analysis, taken as an input to this example, supports CDF 1,000 per unit on the same terms. The identified transfer is CDF 200,000. If the other conditions for the adjustment are established, add that amount to the recorded result. The example proves arithmetic, not that a real transaction's comparable is acceptable. Law 23/053, art. 53.

name: Controlled sale compared with an independently supported price
inputs:
  units: 10000
  actual_unit_price: 980
  supported_independent_unit_price: 1000
  recorded_profit: 5000000
steps:
  recorded_revenue: units * actual_unit_price
  independent_revenue: units * supported_independent_unit_price
  identified_profit_transfer: independent_revenue - recorded_revenue
  adjusted_profit_before_other_tax_rules: recorded_profit + identified_profit_transfer
expected:
  recorded_revenue: 9800000
  independent_revenue: 10000000
  identified_profit_transfer: 200000
  adjusted_profit_before_other_tax_rules: 5200000

2. Own figures below the threshold, qualifying foreign parent

Assume a Congolese enterprise has annual turnover of CDF 6 billion and gross assets of CDF 8 billion. At year end a foreign enterprise majority-holds it, directly, and has gross assets of exactly CDF 10 billion. The local enterprise fails its own-size test but meets the upstream ownership test. Prepare the files and annual declaration; choosing only the local-size route would give the wrong filing decision. The second calculation shows a conditional documentation-default exposure only if an unanswered/incomplete formal notice covers CDF 8 billion of transactions for that audited year. The percentage amount exceeds the statutory minimum. It is not the annual-declaration penalty. Finance Act 25/060, arts. 25, 34.

name: Parent threshold equality and conditional documentation default
inputs:
  own_turnover: 6000000000
  own_gross_assets: 8000000000
  parent_gross_assets: 10000000000
  documentation_threshold: 10000000000
  affected_transactions: 8000000000
  penalty_rate: 0.02
  minimum_penalty: 100000000
steps:
  own_size_shortfall: documentation_threshold - max(own_turnover, own_gross_assets)
  parent_threshold_margin: parent_gross_assets - documentation_threshold
  percentage_penalty: affected_transactions * penalty_rate
  conditional_documentation_penalty: max(percentage_penalty, minimum_penalty)
expected:
  own_size_shortfall: 2000000000
  parent_threshold_margin: 0
  percentage_penalty: 160000000
  conditional_documentation_penalty: 160000000

Ask the client first

1. What entity, income year, tax residence and actual Congolese operations are involved?
2. What are the direct/indirect capital, votes, actual control and common-management relationships at year end?
3. What are the enterprise's and relevant parent/subsidiaries' annual turnover excluding taxes and gross assets?
4. What controlled transactions, contracts, actual functions/risks, pricing evidence and preferential-jurisdiction payments exist?
5. Is there an audit notice, precise information request or annual declaration already filed, and on what dates?
6. What is the ultimate parent's prior-year consolidated turnover, filing jurisdiction, designated CbC filer and exchange/notification evidence?

Sources

Source and scope actually read	URL	Read on
DGI-hosted Journal officiel, Law 23/053: arts. 46–48 and 53 with neighbouring deduction/loss provisions; art. 153 and Law 23/052 art. 6. The latter commencement provision was read again during the source-review repair. Scanned text read with French OCR; article 53 visually checked.	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. 18 and 25–28, 33–34; audit/file/annual/CbC populations and sanctions; art. 88 commencement read and visually checked during repair. Threshold and sanction scans visually checked.	https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lf_2026_recettes.pdf	2026-11-01
Budget Ministry, rectifying Act 26/032: tax-amendment chapter and arts. 49–51; original unamended provisions retained.	https://www.budget.gouv.cd/wp-content/uploads/budget2026/lfr_2026/lfr_2026_recettes.pdf	2026-11-01
DGI IS information page, public online declaration/payment link only; no authenticated TP workflow read.	https://dgi.gouv.cd/impot-sur-les-societes/	2026-11-01

Not yet confirmed: current ministerial master/local-file content and prescribed pricing-method/range rules; current annual electronic TP form, field mapping, upload and acknowledgement/payment steps; CbC format, exchange-partner list, conversion instruction and notifications; Congolese non-cooperative list; detailed general interest, combined-penalty and dispute treatment; treaty/corresponding-adjustment procedures; specialist sector rules. The retained 2025 Guides are not validated by this new method.