Burkina Faso is a West African country that spans 106,000 square miles. Over 21 million people live there, the bulk of whom are Mossis. Burkina Faso promotes foreign investment to help the country develop and requires that foreign companies be treated equally with local investors. This opens up a lot of commercial prospects. The country is the region’s major exporter of cotton and gold, as well as a significant international exporter of those commodities.
The legal forms of companies in Burkina Faso are:
- Limited Liability Company (LLC/SARL) which requires a minimum of one shareholder and one director of any nationality and minimum share capital of XOF 1,000,000;
- Public Limited Company which requires a minimum of one shareholder and three directors of any nationality and minimum share capital of XOF 10,000,000;
- Société en Commandite Simple requires a minimum of a partner with limited liability and one with unlimited liability, no minimum capital required.
Registration procedure
Registration in Burkina Faso’s commercial register is the responsibility of the Centre for Formation of Enterprises (Centre des Formalités des Entreprises CEFORE). In addition, the commercial court (Tribunal de Commerce) is in charge of maintaining the business registry. The following are the processes involved in forming a business in Burkina Faso:
Open a bank account in Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, open a bank account and deposit your startup capital there. The bank must provide you with proof of deposit of the capital.
Go to a Notary Public’s Office
Notarize documentation of capital deposit with a notary public. The use of notaries is no longer necessary since 2014. Most entrepreneurs, however, continue to employ their services. The procedure takes around three days and costs 3% of the reported capital.
Register at the Entreprises Formalities Centre (CEFORE)
For company registration, tax number (IFU), labor, and social security go to CEFORE. To complete company registration with the Trade Register and Personal Credit (RCCM), receive the fiscal identity (or identifiant financier unique, IFU) and the professional license (carte professionnelle de commerçant, at the Ministry of Commerce), a single application form must be filed. CEFORE arranging for registration with the court and other authorities after the paperwork is filed. For company registration, fiscal identification, and social security affiliation, each firm is granted a unique company identification number. The registration process in this method is expected to take 7 working days to complete. The required information is subsequently transferred by CEFORE to the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS), which is responsible for disseminating it to the National Agency for Employment Promotion (ANPE) and the Labor Inspectorate. The overall registration price is XOF 47,500, which is divided as follows: XOF 12,500 (RCCM) + XOF 7,500 (IFU) + XOF 5,000 (CNSS) + XOF 7,500 (CEFORE) + XOF 5,000 (Court registration) + XOF 10,000 (publication fee). Instead of a copy of the manager’s criminal records, the registration application includes a sworn declaration (declaration sur l’honneur). Within two months, the entrepreneur must send a copy of his or her criminal record.
Special License
If your kind of business requires a special license, you have to obtain the license from the right authority.
Taxation in Burkina Faso
The VAT in Burkina Faso is 18%, the corporate tax is 27.5 percent, and the individual tax varies depending on income and ranges from 0% to 25%. There are several tax exemptions, and certain items and tools are exempt from taxation. Furthermore, Burkina Faso and Spain have a double taxation agreement, which means that any goods or services that have previously been taxed in Spain cannot be taxed in Burkina Faso, and vice versa.
