East African states to ratify double taxation treaty to boost integration
NAIROBI, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) — The East African Community (EAC) member states are set to ratify the avoidance of double taxation treaty in order to boost regional integration, a Kenyan official said on Thursday.
Barrack Ndegwa, Regional Integration Secretary in the Ministry of EAC, Labor and Social Protection, told Xinhua that heads of states of the EAC have already signed the protocol on double taxation.
“What is now remaining is each of the six member states to individually ratify the treaty so that it is operational,” Ndegwa said on the sides of the International Film Convention.
EAC partner states include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. Ndegwa said that once the tax treaty is operational, citizens working in other EAC member states will only be taxed once.
“They will be exempted from paying taxes in their host country and only pay tax to their home country and hence avoid double taxation,” he said.
The objective of the treaty is to promote the EAC Common Market Protocol that calls for free movement of capital, goods, services and labor, he added.
He said that intra-EAC trade has faced an increase in non-tariff barriers, as well as the slow implementation of decisions agreed upon at the summit level.
