Gabon taxes salaries and investment income in two separate boxes. Your salary goes on a family-based scale that reaches 35%, with a 5% supplementary salary tax on top. Dividends, interest and gains, including those from abroad, pay a flat 20% that's final and doesn't push your salary into a higher band.
This guide covers Gabonese personal tax for the 2026 tax year, which follows the calendar year from 1 January to 31 December 2026. You declare 2026 income in early 2027. Amounts are in Central African CFA francs (XAF), which are pegged to the euro at XAF 655.957.
The key question is whether you have a home in Gabon: one available to you, as owner or tenant, makes you resident before you've spent 183 days there.
What's changed: article 74 of the tax code, as last amended by the 2024 Finance Law, sets a 183-day test; some DGI guidance pages still say six months. The income tax scale in article 174 hasn't been amended in recent finance laws. The 2026 Finance Law (Law 041/2025) was published in the Official Journal of 30 December 2025. We couldn't open the official copy, so this guide follows the DGI's 2025 tax code; published summaries of the 2026 law describe changes to property tax, rent withholding and VAT rather than to the income tax scale. Parliament also passed an amending finance law for 2026 in July 2026; reports describe measures for businesses, and we haven't seen its official text. Check the DGI before relying on any figure.
📋 Gabon tax at a glance for 2026
Topic | Details |
|---|---|
Tax system | Residents are taxed on worldwide income, with each kind of income taxed under its own rules. Non-residents are taxed on income from Gabon only |
Tax year | The calendar year. This guide covers 1 January to 31 December 2026 |
Income tax rates | 0% up to XAF 1.5 million per family part, then 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%, with 35% above XAF 11 million per part |
Salary taxes | A 5% supplementary salary tax (TCS) on pay above XAF 150,000 a month, then a 20% expenses allowance capped at XAF 10 million |
All-in on a US$100k salary | About 30.9% (XAF 58.5 million at about XAF 585 to US$1, single, including TCS, CNSS and CNAMGS) |
Investment income | A flat, final 20% on dividends and interest, Gabonese or foreign. Gains on assets: 20% after a 15% allowance |
Wealth and inheritance | No wealth tax. No inheritance duty for children or a spouse, but a 10% levy on cash in the estate; other heirs pay up to 35% |
Residence at a glance | Getting in: easy (a home available to you, your main stay or centre of interests in Gabon, or 183 days in the year). Leaving: file a provisional return 30 days before you go and show your taxes are paid; no exit tax |
Double tax treaties | At least seven in force, including France, Belgium, Canada, Morocco and China. None with the UK or the US |
Investment income: a flat 20%, outside the scale
Investment income stays out of your total income, so it never pushes your salary into a higher band.
Image 1 — investment income pays a flat 20%, kept apart from your salary
Dividends and interest: dividends, bond interest and interest on deposits are taxed at 20% as a final withholding (prélèvement libératoire). Bank savings certificates (bons de caisse) pay 15%, Gabonese bonds of 5 years or more 10%, and savings accounts up to XAF 10 million are exempt.
Foreign dividends and interest: taxed too if you're resident. A paying agent in Gabon withholds; if you're paid abroad, you pay it yourself.
Gains: gains on property, movable goods or rights of any kind are added up for the year, cut by a 15% allowance and taxed at a final 20%, an effective 17%. You pay before 30 April of the next year; on property, the notary collects it.
Shares listed on the regional exchange: gains on securities listed on the Central African stock exchange are exempt, and their dividends pay 10%.
A separate rule taxes gains on company shares at 20% only where the seller or family has been a director with more than 25% of the profits in the last 5 years. It isn't clear whether that leaves a portfolio investor's share gains untaxed, so check with the DGI before a large sale.
👉 DGI: Code général des impôts 2025, articles 62, 105, 109, 110, 119 and 120 to 127 (in French)
When you become tax resident in Gabon, and how you stop
Under article 74 of the tax code, as rewritten by the 2024 Finance Law, you're liable to Gabonese income tax (IRPP) if you have your habitual residence in Gabon or you stay there for at least 183 days in the year. You have a habitual residence if either applies:
you have a home available to you in Gabon, as owner, usufructuary or tenant
without a home, your main place of stay or your centre of interests or business is in Gabon
Renting a flat is enough to make you resident, however few days you spend there. Gabon has few treaties, so a tie-breaker rarely helps.
In the year you move to Gabon, you're taxed only on income from the day you set up home there. When you leave for good, you file a provisional return at least 30 days before you go, which you can complete until the end of February of the next year. You must also show the tax office that your past taxes are paid, and give a guarantee from your employer or bank for anything still due, or lodge security. Gabon has no exit tax.
Income tax rates for 2026
Rent, salaries, pensions and business profits are added together and taxed as one household: your income is divided by your family parts, the scale is applied to one part, and the result is multiplied back up.
Gabon income tax rates for 2026 (per family part)
Taxable income per part (XAF) | Rate | Tax per part |
|---|---|---|
Up to 1,500,000 | 0% | 0 |
1,500,001 to 1,920,000 | 5% | 5% of Q less 75,000 |
1,920,001 to 2,700,000 | 10% | 10% of Q less 171,000 |
2,700,001 to 3,600,000 | 15% | 15% of Q less 306,000 |
3,600,001 to 5,160,000 | 20% | 20% of Q less 486,000 |
5,160,001 to 7,500,000 | 25% | 25% of Q less 744,000 |
7,500,001 to 11,000,000 | 30% | 30% of Q less 1,119,000 |
Over 11,000,000 | 35% | 35% of Q less 1,669,000 |
Q is your taxable income divided by your family parts. Source: Code général des impôts, articles 168 and 174, and the DGI's guide to calculating IRPP.
Family parts. A single person has 1 part. A married couple with no children has 2, and each dependent child adds half a part, up to six children. So a married couple with two children has 3 parts.
Salary deductions. Your employer deducts your compulsory pension and health contributions first. Then the 5% supplementary salary tax (taxe complémentaire sur les salaires, TCS) is worked out on pay above XAF 150,000 a month, and deducted. Finally, a 20% allowance for work expenses comes off, capped at XAF 10 million a year, as long as you declare on time. Performance bonuses, a thirteenth month and similar payments are exempt from both taxes up to XAF 4 million a year.
👉 DGI: how IRPP is calculated, with the scale, family parts and the 20% allowance (in French)
👉 DGI: how the 5% supplementary salary tax (TCS) is calculated (in French)
Worked example
You're single and work for a Gabonese employer for all of 2026, earning XAF 58.5 million (about US$100k).
Your contributions are XAF 900,000 to the CNSS (5% of pay up to XAF 1.5 million a month) and XAF 600,000 to the CNAMGS (2% of pay up to XAF 2.5 million a month), leaving XAF 57 million.
TCS is 5% of XAF 57 million less the XAF 1.8 million exempt for the year: XAF 2,760,000. That leaves XAF 54.24 million.
The 20% allowance would be XAF 10.85 million, so the XAF 10 million cap applies. Your taxable income is XAF 44.24 million, and with 1 part the tax is 35% of that less XAF 1,669,000: XAF 13,815,000.
Your all-in bill is about XAF 18.08 million, or 30.9% of your salary (28.3% for income tax and TCS alone). With a spouse and two children (3 parts), the income tax falls to XAF 10,477,000 and the all-in rate to about 25.2%.
Working remotely for a foreign employer? Salary is taxable in Gabon when the work is done there, so remote work from Gabon counts. A foreign employer with no presence in Gabon usually doesn't run Gabonese payroll, so you declare the salary on your annual return and pay the tax yourself. If a foreign company seconds you to a business in Gabon and you stay at least six months, the Gabonese business must withhold the tax.
Freelancing in Gabon
Freelance and professional fees are non-commercial profits (bénéfices non commerciaux). Which regime you're on depends on your annual turnover before VAT:
Up to XAF 60 million: the simplified regime. Your taxable profit is your fees less a flat allowance: 40% for liberal professions and similar, 50% for service businesses. You can choose to deduct actual expenses instead, for three years at a time.
Over XAF 60 million: the real regime. You're taxed on your actual profit, worked out as for a company.
On US$100k of fees (XAF 58.5 million), the simplified regime taxes XAF 35.1 million on the scale: XAF 10,616,000, about 18.1%. That's just under the XAF 60 million limit; on the real regime, the same income with low expenses costs about 32%. The small-business flat tax (impôt synthétique libératoire) only covers commercial, industrial and farming activities, so it isn't open to most freelancers.
Minimum tax: with business income, your IRPP can't be less than 1% of turnover or XAF 500,000.
Withholding: Gabonese businesses withhold 9.5% of fees paid to providers who don't charge VAT; it counts towards your tax.
Business licence: the annual patente is paid before 1 March.
👉 DGI: business profits, the simplified and real regimes and the flat allowances (in French)
Crypto, investments and pensions
Is crypto taxed in Gabon? There's no specific answer. The tax code doesn't mention crypto-assets and the DGI hasn't published guidance. In our reading, a gain on crypto you hold privately falls under the tax on gains on assets of any kind: 20% after a 15% allowance, about 17%. Frequent trading could instead be taxed on the scale as non-commercial profits.
Foreign pensions: the code taxes salaries and pensions where the paid work is done in Gabon, and treats a pension as received in Gabon when the payer is there, yet also taxes residents on income from inside or outside Gabon. A foreign pension for work done abroad may be outside Gabonese tax, but there's no DGI guidance. If it's taxed, it goes on the scale after the 20% allowance: about 20.9% on US$40k.
Rent: rental income goes on the scale after a 30% allowance for costs, if you declare it on time.
Inheritance and gifts: children and a spouse pay no inheritance duty, but a 10% levy is taken from cash in the estate. Other heirs pay progressive rates, from 3% up to 35% between unrelated people. Gifts to children are taxed at 2% to 12%.
Gabon has no wealth tax.
👉 DGI: Code général des impôts 2025, articles 89, 90, 132, 161, 605, 611 and 612 (in French)
Social security
Employees in Gabon join two bodies: the Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (CNSS) for pensions, family benefits and work accidents, and the Caisse Nationale d'Assurance Maladie et de Garantie Sociale (CNAMGS) for health insurance. Foreign employees contribute too; the CNSS refunds non-Gabonese workers who leave where there's no social security agreement. The rates at 1 January 2026, as published by the French social security liaison body CLEISS:
CNSS pensions: 5% from you and 11% from your employer, on pay up to XAF 1.5 million a month.
CNSS family benefits and work accidents: 5% and 2%, paid by your employer only, on the same ceiling.
CNAMGS health insurance: 2% from you and 4.1% from your employer, on pay up to XAF 2.5 million a month. Retired people with a pension above the minimum wage pay 1% of it.
The self-employed are joining CNAMGS health cover in stages, starting with liberal professions; the CNAMGS says their flat-rate contributions still await a ministerial order (CLEISS quotes 6.1% on up to XAF 2.5 million a month). CNSS pension cover is voluntary for them.
👉 CNAMGS: registration and contributions for private-sector employees and pensioners (in French)
👉 CNAMGS: health cover for the self-employed and voluntary members (in French)
👉 CLEISS: social security contributions in Gabon at 1 January 2026 (in French)
Double tax treaties
Does Gabon have double tax treaties? A small number, and the DGI doesn't publish a list online yet. In its 2024 treaty review, the OECD lists six in force: Belgium, Canada, France, Korea, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. The treaty with France, signed in 1995, has been in force since 1 March 2008. China's tax administration confirms that the treaty with China, signed in 2018, has since come into force, and Gabon has passed a law to ratify a 1999 treaty with Italy. Gabon has no treaty with the UK or the United States, so if you're taxed in both countries you'll rely on each country's own relief rules.
👉 OECD: Gabon's tax agreements in force, from the 2024 peer review on treaty shopping
👉 French tax administration: the France-Gabon tax treaty and its entry into force (in French)
👉 Department of Finance Canada: tax treaties in force, including Gabon
👉 State Taxation Administration of China: the China-Gabon treaty ready to take effect (in Chinese)
Staying long term in Gabon
Gabon has no digital nomad visa. British citizens must get a visa before they travel and need a yellow fever certificate. Longer stays need a residence card (titre de séjour); if you're taxed on salary or business income, you first pay a lump sum at the tax office, and immigration won't issue the card without the receipt.
The tax rules don't wait for a card: renting a home in Gabon makes you resident from the start.
👉 UK government: Gabon entry requirements, visas and the yellow fever certificate
Who is Gabon good for?
How does Gabon compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including TCS and compulsory contributions. We convert at about XAF 585 to US$1 (October 2026): the CFA franc is fixed at XAF 655.957 to the euro, and the European Central Bank's reference rate on 19 October 2026 was US$1.1225 to the euro.
☑️ Who is Gabon good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026
Expat profile | Gabon rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
Employees | Poor | About 30.9% all-in on a US$100k salary (XAF 58.5 million) for a single employee: income tax at up to 35%, the 5% supplementary salary tax (TCS), and CNSS pension and CNAMGS health contributions. Close to the line: a married employee with two children pays about 25%. No regime for new arrivals. |
Freelancers (self-employed) | Good | About 18.1% on US$100k of fees. The simplified regime (turnover up to XAF 60 million) taxes liberal professions on 60% of their fees. Self-employed CNAMGS contributions aren't set yet; at the 6.1% CLEISS quotes, it's about 21% (Moderate). Above XAF 60 million, tax on actual profit costs far more. |
Retirees | Moderate | About 20.6% on a US$40k foreign pension on the scale plus US$20k of foreign dividends at the flat 20%. If a foreign pension falls outside Gabonese tax, which the code's wording allows, it's about 6.7% (Good). No inheritance duty for children or a spouse, but a 10% levy on cash in an estate. |
Crypto gains | Moderate | No crypto rules or DGI guidance. In our reading, a private gain pays the general tax on gains: 20% after a 15% allowance, about 17%. Regular trading could go on the scale. |
Investment income | Moderate | About 18.5% on a US$1m portfolio: the 4% of income at 20% and the 4% of gains at an effective 17%. If a portfolio investor's share gains turn out to be untaxed, it's 10% (Good). |
Digital nomad visa | Poor | No digital nomad visa, and British visitors need a visa before they travel. Longer stays need a residence card, issued only after a lump sum is paid at the tax office. |
👉 Bank of Central African States (BEAC): the fixed parity of the CFA franc with the euro (in French)
👉 European Central Bank: euro reference exchange rates, including the US dollar
Filing and deadlines
The tax year is the calendar year, and you file the following year.
Before 1 March: the annual income tax return for everyone liable to IRPP, including employees.
By 30 April: the return for freelance and business profits, with any balance of tax. Two instalments, each a quarter of last year's tax, are due by 30 November and 30 January.
Before 30 April: the tax on gains made in the previous year, unless a notary has collected it.
Monthly, within 15 days: employers pay over the IRPP and TCS withheld from salaries.
👉 DGI: when and how to pay IRPP (in French)
Frequently asked questions
When do I become tax resident in Gabon?
If you have your habitual residence in Gabon or stay at least 183 days in the year. A home available to you as owner or tenant counts, as does your main stay or centre of interests. In your first year you're taxed from the day you set up home there.
Does Gabon tax foreign income?
Yes, for residents. Foreign dividends and interest pay the flat 20%, which you pay yourself if paid abroad. Salaries and pensions are taxed where the work is done in Gabon or the payer is there, so a foreign pension may fall outside, but there's no DGI guidance.
What are the income tax rates in Gabon for 2026?
Income is divided by your family parts. Up to XAF 1.5 million per part is tax free, then the rates rise from 5% to 30%, with 35% above XAF 11 million per part. Employees also pay a 5% supplementary salary tax (TCS) on pay above XAF 150,000 a month.
How are dividends taxed in Gabon?
Dividends and most interest pay a flat 20% that's final, so they don't go on the scale. Bank savings certificates pay 15%, Gabonese bonds of 5 years or more pay 10%, and securities listed on the Central African stock exchange pay 10%.
Is crypto taxed in Gabon?
There are no crypto-specific rules and no DGI guidance. In our reading, a gain on crypto held privately is taxed like other gains on assets: 20% after a 15% allowance, about 17%. Regular trading could be taxed on the scale instead, so keep records and get advice before a large disposal.
Does Gabon have a tax treaty with the UK?
No. Gabon has a small number of tax treaties, including those with France, Belgium, Canada, Morocco and China, and none with the UK or the United States.
Where to go next
👉 Easiest countries to become tax resident
Important information
This article is general information and does not constitute tax, legal, immigration or financial advice, and does not create a client relationship. Tax outcomes depend on travel history, income sources, treaty status and the law applying to the relevant year. Rates, thresholds and regimes change, and some measures described may be proposed rather than enacted; this article reflects our understanding as at the date of publication. Obtain advice from a suitably qualified professional before acting or refraining from action.
