The digital tax reform for Africa: customised or one-size-fits-all approach?

ABSTRACT We employ analytical, case study and economic analysis approaches to explore trends and potential outcomes of tax policy reforms addressing challenges of digital business transformation in Africa. We find the striking level of differences among the twenty-six examined African countries, in both their positions in global and regional economy, and in digital capacities of states and their tax administrations. The potential outcome of the discussion of multilateral reform at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) global governance level and unilateral reforms such as digital services taxes and its implications for African states are discussed in this context. Tax policy proposals are suggested for delineated groups of African states based on the idea of narrowly targeted digitally related policy for the leaders and broad cooperation between all the African states. Such an approach can ensure the economic potential of multilateral cooperation among developing countries and defend their economic and fiscal interests at the global tax governance level.