IPNEWS The West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF), in partnership with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), has successfully held the first phase of its two-part Regional Executive and Technical Master Class on Taxation of the Digital Economy. The Virtual Executive Workshop, convened on 25 February 2026, brought together more than 100 Commissioners-General, senior tax administrators, policymakers, and technical experts from across West Africa. A three-day in-person technical training is scheduled for May 2026.
At the center of the high-level deliberations was a compelling presentation by Dr. Lyla Latif, Public Finance and Technology Governance Law Specialist, who facilitated the session under the theme “Taxation of the Digital Economy: What Tax Administrators Must Know; What Frameworks Exist; and What West Africa Should Do Next.”
“The Consumption is Here. The Revenue is Not.”
In her analysis of the “Anatomy of Digital Revenue,” Dr. Latif presented stark figures illustrating Africa’s digital paradox. She noted that technology and platform giants — including Google/Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Meta — are generating hundreds of billions of dollars globally from advertising, cloud services, e-commerce, software and enterprise solutions, with Africa representing a rapidly expanding consumption base.
In 2023 alone, Africa recorded approximately US$180 billion in digital economic activity, including an estimated US$1.1 trillion in mobile money transactions involving over 416 million mobile users. Yet, according to Dr. Latif, these vast transactions yielded virtually no corresponding digital tax revenues for African governments.
“The consumption is here. The revenue is not,” she stated.
She described what she termed the “invisible digital economy” — programmatic advertising impressions, cloud subscriptions, data brokerage, AI training using African language data without compensation, algorithm-driven pricing models, and cross-border software-as-a-service subscriptions. These revenue streams, she explained, are largely beyond the visibility of African tax systems.
“Revenue is generated, profits are made, but African tax authorities have no visibility,” Dr. Latif warned, attributing this invisibility to gaps in digital knowledge, infrastructure, intelligence systems, and legislative design.
Clear Recommendations to WATAF and Member States
Dr. Latif urged West African governments to act decisively and immediately. She recommended that Member States enact Digital Services Tax (DST) or Significant Economic Presence (SEP) legislation covering cloud computing, AI-as-a-service, and data brokerage — areas she described as currently invisible to every revenue authority in the region.
At the regional level, she called on ECOWAS member states to harmonise legislative frameworks and operate as a unified bloc to prevent definitional fragmentation from becoming a tax planning loophole and to strengthen collective bargaining power in multilateral negotiations.
She further advised revenue authorities to invest in sustained technical training in platform economics, digital forensic accounting, and algorithmic business models, alongside the establishment of specialised Digital Economy Units capable of auditing revenue streams that traditional administrative structures were never designed to detect.
On the global stage, Dr. Latif recommended that West Africa engage the ongoing UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation with coordinated positions that prioritize mandatory nexus rules and gross-revenue taxing rights.
Her recommendations framed the urgency of reform not merely as a technical adjustment, but as a matter of fiscal sovereignty and long-term domestic resource mobilization.
Tapsoba: Adaptation is No Longer Optional
Delivering remarks on behalf of West African Revenue Authorities, Jules Tapsoba, Executive Secretary of WATAF, underscored the transformative impact of digitalization on taxation and customs administration.
“The digital evolution has brought significant transformation, and we must both leverage it and embrace it to transform the way we do things,” he said.
“For Africa, this is a question of fiscal sovereignty. If our systems do not evolve, our tax base will continue to erode.”
He described the Master Class as timely and strategic, aimed at strengthening the adaptive capacity of Tax and Customs leaders to promote coordinated national and regional responses to digital taxation challenges.
ACBF: No More Time to Delay
Speaking on behalf of the ACBF Secretariat, Rudolphe Blance commended WATAF for the strong institutional partnership established in September 2025 to enhance the capacity of tax administrations across West Africa. He noted that taxing the digital economy represents one of the most complex areas of public finance reform, currently accounting for roughly five percent of Africa’s GDP and poised for rapid growth.
“Our tax systems were largely designed around physical presence. It is time to redesign them to capture value created online. There is no more time left to delay strategic direction that reduces the gap between digital economic activity and taxation,” he stated.
He reiterated that ACBF is strengthening analytical and technical capacity across Africa through specialized programs focused on digital economy taxation, enabling governments to craft coordinated and forward-looking solutions to emerging fiscal challenges.
From Awareness to Action
While the virtual workshop established strategic clarity, the in-person session in May 2026 will move decisively toward implementation. Participants are expected to begin shaping harmonized legislative approaches, compliance models, audit strategies, and regional coordination mechanisms designed specifically for cross-border digital transactions and platform-based business models.
As West Africa’s digital footprint expands, the Master Class signals a regional commitment to act swiftly and coherently to secure fair and sustainable revenue in the digital age.
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About WATAF
The West African Tax Administration Forum (WATAF) is a regional platform that promotes cooperation, capacity development, and knowledge sharing among tax administrations in West Africa. It works to strengthen domestic resource mobilization, improve tax administration effectiveness, and enhance regional policy coherence.
About ACBF
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is Africa’s leading institution for human and institutional capacity development. It supports governments and regional bodies to strengthen economic governance, public sector management, and sustainable development across the continent
