Sierra Leone business lobby seeks corporate tax cut as NRA targets NLe45bn in revenue by 2030

Image: David Hond / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce wants the corporate income tax rate returned to 25% from 30% and a redesign of the 2% minimum alternate tax, while the National Revenue Authority plans to more than double collections by 2030.

Jurisdiction Sierra LeonePractice Banking and Finance, TaxSector Public Sector

The Sierra Leone Chamber of Commerce has asked the government to reverse tax increases introduced by the Finance Act 2026, including cutting the corporate income tax rate from 30% back to 25%, Awoko reported on 21 September 2026. The requests were made during national policy hearings for the FY2027 budget.

The Chamber’s requests

Speaking for Chamber President Oluniyi Robbin-Coker, Rashid Conteh also called for a redesign of the 2% minimum alternate tax on turnover and a review of withholding tax rates. He argued that turnover taxation is particularly harsh on low-margin businesses such as food distributors and retailers, and said: “A turnover tax can become a tax on genuine loss.” The Chamber also asked for zero-tariff treatment on renewable energy equipment to be extended beyond solar panels under 300 watts to all panel sizes, batteries and inverters, and urged banks to develop leasing and hire-purchase products, backed by stronger credit reporting and movable collateral registries.

The revenue authority’s targets

At the same round of hearings, the National Revenue Authority (NRA) set out a target of NLe45 billion in revenue by 2030, compared with NLe18 billion in 2025 and NLe7 billion in 2022, Awoko reported. The 2026 target is NLe21.5 billion. The NRA’s Senior Director of Research, Phillip Kargbo, said the aim is to raise revenue from 10.7% of GDP in 2025 to 11.5% in 2026 and 15% by 2030, and attributed recent gains to changes in excise taxes, import duties, mining fees and tax incentives under the Medium-Term Revenue Strategy.

Why it matters

The two positions are difficult to reconcile. The NRA’s plan implies revenue growth of roughly 108% between 2026 and 2030, which is unlikely to be achieved without either broadening the base or maintaining rates that businesses consider burdensome. A reversal of the corporate rate increase would therefore need to be offset elsewhere, possibly through further rationalisation of incentives, which would affect investors relying on concessions granted under investment or mining agreements.

Taxpayers should model the impact of the minimum alternate tax on loss-making or thin-margin years, since a turnover-based charge applies regardless of profitability. Investors with stabilisation clauses should check whether those provisions protect them against the Finance Act 2026 changes. The FY2027 Finance Bill will show whether the government has accepted any of the Chamber’s proposals, and the Chamber’s call for movable collateral registries points to secured lending reforms that would be relevant to banks and asset finance providers.