Analysing tax law in Cabo Verde

Tax law is the set of rules that say which taxes exist, who pays them, how they are calculated and how they are collected. In Cabo Verde those rules rest on an explicit constitutional foundation and a set of codes and special laws, administered by services under the Ministry of Finance. This guide analyses the constitutional framework, the organisation of the system as official sources present it, the institutions, and taxpayer guarantees. It does not reproduce rates, brackets or deadlines: the codes are amended regularly and current values must be confirmed in the official sources listed at the end.

The constitutional foundation

Part III of the Constitution of the Republic of Cabo Verde (“Economic and Financial Organisation”, consolidated 2010 text on the National Parliament portal) devotes article 93 to the fiscal system:

• the fiscal system aims to satisfy the financial needs of the State and to ensure a just distribution of income and wealth (no. 1);
• taxes are created by law, which determines their incidence, the rate, tax benefits and taxpayer guarantees (no. 2), the principle of tax legality;
• no one may be obliged to pay taxes that were not created in accordance with the Constitution (no. 3);
• after the State Budget is approved, the incidence base of any tax may not be widened nor its rate increased in the current economic year (no. 4);
• municipal taxes may exist (no. 5);
• tax law has no retroactive effect, unless it is more favourable to the taxpayer (no. 6).

In addition, article 94 deals with the State Budget (unitary, with secret funds prohibited and its execution overseen by the Court of Accounts (Tribunal de Contas) and the National Assembly) and article 85, paragraph g) of Part II sets out the citizen’s fundamental duty to pay the contributions and taxes established under the law.

How the system is organised

The official page of the Directorate-General for Contributions and Taxes presents the system in three main strands, plus the general pieces:

• Income taxes. The IRPS (Personal Income Tax, Law No. 78/VIII/2014) covers five categories of income: A: employment income and pensions; B: business and professional income; C: property (rental) income; D: capital income; E: capital gains. The model favours taxation through liberatory rates withheld at source, with electronic annual declaration in certain cases. The IRPC (Corporate Income Tax, Law No. 82/VIII/2015) covers the profits of legal persons and the global income of entities not subject to IRPS. Withholding at source has its own regime (Decree-Law No. 6/2015).
• Taxes on consumption and acts. VAT (Law No. 21/VI/2003) applies to transfers of goods and provision of services within the national territory and to the importation of goods. Stamp Duty (Law No. 33/2008) covers acts, operations and transfers, with emphasis on financial operations, insurance, and notarial, registry and procedural acts.
• Customs. The importation of goods is taxable “under customs legislation”, and the Directorate-General for Customs is part of the State revenue administration.
• General pieces. The codes operate by reference to the General Tax Code (Código Geral Tributário) and the Tax Benefits Code, among other general and special regimes (such as the one for micro and small enterprises).
• Municipal taxes, provided for in the Constitution (art. 93, no. 5).

Who administers it

The Ministry of Finance is the responsible government department. Revenue administration was organised in the Direção Nacional de Receitas do Estado (DNRE), the National Directorate of State Revenue, headed by a National Director and comprising the Directorate-General for Contributions and Taxes (DGCI), the Directorate-General for Customs (DGA), shared services and territorial services. In November 2025, Decree-Law No. 34/2025 of 4 November (Official Gazette No. 105, Series I) created the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira de Cabo Verde (ATCV, I.P.) (the Tax and Customs Authority), a public institute with administrative, financial and patrimonial autonomy, under the superintendence of the Government member responsible for Finance, which succeeds the DNRE and administers taxes, customs duties and other tributes. The official pages were still in transition between the two names at the date of this check. Electronic service is provided mainly through the Porton di Nos Ilha portal, with the tax calendar, forms and declaration manuals published by the administration; the Centre for Legal, Tax and Customs Studies (CEJFA) supports training in this area.

Taxpayer guarantees

The Constitution requires the law creating each tax to set out taxpayer guarantees (art. 93, no. 2) and prohibits tributes without constitutional and statutory basis (art. 93, no. 3). At the administrative level, the official DNRE/DGCI page refers to the Provedor do Contribuinte (Taxpayer Ombudsman), tasked with receiving and considering taxpayers’ complaints and suggestions about the services, and publishes a summary of the decisions of the Tax and Customs Court: the tax and customs courts are the judicial avenue for challenging assessments. In general, the constitutional procedural guarantees also apply: access to justice within a reasonable time (art. 22) and complaints to the Ombudsman (Provedor de Justiça) about actions or omissions of public powers (art. 21). The procedural details of each complaint or appeal are set out in the applicable legislation and must be confirmed case by case.

Where to confirm current obligations

• the Ministry of Finance portal and the DNRE/DGCI pages (sections for general, tax and customs legislation, forms and the tax calendar);
• the Porton di Nos Ilha portal for electronic declarations and payments;
• the Electronic Official Gazette (boe.incv.cv), where the codes and their amendments are published.

When to speak with a lawyer

It is worth seeking legal advice in inspections, misdemeanour proceedings, tax enforcement, business or professional planning, and in interpreting declaration and payment obligations. The directory lists tax law lawyers.

This page is general information, not legal advice.