Côte d’Ivoire Introduces Advance Pricing Agreements: a New Tax Certainty Tool for International Groups

Article 23 of the tax annex to Finance Law No. 2025-987 of 19 December 2025 enacting the State Budget for 2026 introduces, under Article 21 bis of the Tax Procedures Code, an advance pricing agreement (APA) mechanism. Commented on in the 2026 Official Bulletin of the Directorate General of Taxes, it aligns the Ivorian transfer pricing framework with international standards.

An APA is an agreement under which an enterprise and one or more tax administrations validate in advance the criteria for determining the arm’s length price applicable to future intragroup transactions: the pricing method, critical assumptions, comparables, documentation and conditions for revision. An advance decision mechanism comparable to the tax ruling, it may be unilateral, bilateral or multilateral, the latter two forms requiring a dispute resolution instrument with the State concerned. An APA grants no preferential regime: it alters neither the tax base, the rate nor the due date of the tax.

The mechanism is open to Ivorian enterprises under Article 38 of the General Tax Code that control, or are controlled by, enterprises established outside Côte d’Ivoire. Purely Ivorian groups are excluded. All future transactions may be covered: sales of goods, services, intragroup financing, intangible assets or fixed assets, with the enterprise defining the scope of its request.

The request, addressed in writing to the Director General of Taxes at any time of the year, must include, failing which it is inadmissible, the identification of the related entities, the scope, the intragroup agreements and the proposed methods. Failure to respond within ninety days amounts to rejection. The agreement, jointly signed, applies for a period not exceeding three financial years, is renewable, and may be given retroactive effect to the first day of the filing year.

In return, the administration undertakes to make no adjustment contrary to the terms of the agreement on the covered transactions.

That protection remains subject to compliance with ordinary documentation obligations, namely the statement of intragroup transactions, the master file and the local file, and to the filing of an annual monitoring report. Failure to file that report, not remedied within thirty days of a formal notice, results in retroactive revocation of the agreement.

Groups operating in Côte d’Ivoire should integrate APAs into their tax risk management. Ofori Law Africa assists investors and international groups in assessing the merits of an advance pricing agreement, preparing the application file and conducting negotiations with the Ivorian tax administration.

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