Tax
The Liberia Revenue Code with a 25% company rate and Goods and Services Tax
The Liberia Revenue Code of 2000, substantially amended in 2011, governs income tax, goods and services tax and customs. The standard corporate rate is 25%, with concession agreements historically setting sector-specific terms for mining, rubber and forestry, administered by the Liberia Revenue Authority.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Liberia Revenue Authority; objection to the Commissioner-General, then the Board of Tax Appeals, then the Tax Court and the Supreme Court.
- Deadline — Annual income tax returns are due within three months of the year end
- Deadline — GST returns are filed monthly
- Deadline — Quarterly advance income tax instalments apply to businesses
Governing law
- Liberia Revenue Code of 2000, as amended by the Consolidated Tax Amendments Act 2011
- Liberia Revenue Authority Act 2013
- Revenue Code amendments introducing Goods and Services Tax
In practice
The Revenue Code consolidated income tax, indirect tax and customs into a single instrument, and the 2011 Consolidated Tax Amendments Act reworked rates and the treatment of concessions. The standard corporate rate is 25%, and Liberia levies a Goods and Services Tax rather than a full credit-invoice VAT, with a planned transition to VAT repeatedly announced in budget documents. The historically dominant feature was the concession agreement: large mining, rubber, oil palm and forestry investors negotiated bespoke fiscal terms ratified by the Legislature, producing an effective tax code of its own and prompting the 2013 review of concessions after the Moore Stephens audit found widespread non-compliance with award procedures. The Liberia Revenue Authority was created in 2013 as a semi-autonomous body to replace the Bureau of Revenue within the Ministry of Finance. Liberia's non-resident corporate registry income is treated separately and is not subject to domestic income tax.