How B2B Reverse Charge Works in Guinea

When you sell software or digital services from outside Guinea to a Guinean VAT-registered business, your customer accounts for the VAT instead of you. Guinea calls this auto-liquidation. The part that surprises people is that this does not stop when you register.

• Reverse charge applies when the supplier is not established in Guinea and the customer is a Guinean VAT-registered business

• Registering in Guinea does not switch it off, because registering through a fiscal representative does not make you established there

• Your invoice to a Guinean business carries the wording Auto liquidation de la TVA - article 373 Bis du CGI

• Reverse charge never applies to consumer sales. A consumer cannot self-assess, so you register and charge 18%

• Reverse charge does not apply between two Guinea-established businesses. Guinea has no domestic reverse charge

• Kintsugi applies this treatment automatically once it can tell that your customer is a Guinean business

Established Is Not The Same As Registered

Most countries turn the reverse charge off once the overseas seller has a local VAT number. Guinea does not, and the reason is worth understanding, because it drives every B2B calculation Kintsugi makes for you.

The Guinean test asks where the supplier is established, not whether the supplier is registered. A fiscal representative registers you so that you can charge and remit VAT on your consumer sales. It does not give you a presence in Guinea. You remain a supplier established outside Guinea, so the reverse charge keeps applying to your business sales.

Only a permanent establishment in Guinea changes this. If you open a branch or office there, you become established, you register directly rather than through a representative, and you start charging 18% on business sales like any Guinean supplier.

What Your Customer Does

Your Guinean business customer self-assesses the VAT on your invoice. On its monthly return it reports 18% as output VAT and claims the same amount as input VAT. Where it can recover in full, the cash effect is nil, and the entry is there so the transaction is visible to the DGI.

That is also why the invoice wording matters. It tells your customer, and any DGI reviewer, why no VAT appears on your invoice.

What Kintsugi Does Automatically vs. What You Do

Kintsugi handles:

• Applying reverse charge treatment to sales where your customer is identified as a Guinean VAT-registered business

• Keeping that treatment in place after you register in Guinea, rather than switching to 18%

• Calculating 18% on your Guinean consumer sales once your registration is effective

• Excluding reverse-charged business sales from the VAT you owe on your Guinea return

You handle:

• Supplying your customer's Guinean NIF, so Kintsugi can tell a business apart from a consumer

• Adding the reverse charge wording to the invoices you issue to Guinean business customers

• Keeping the records that support the business status of each customer

Without a NIF on file, Kintsugi has no basis for treating a customer as a business. Missing NIFs are the most common reason a Guinean sale is calculated at 18% when it should have been reverse charged.

FAQs

Q: I registered in Guinea. Why is Kintsugi still showing no VAT on my business sales?

A: Because that is correct for Guinea. The reverse charge depends on where you are established, not on whether you hold a registration, so your business sales stay reverse charged after you register.

Q: Then what does my Guinea registration actually cover?

A: Your consumer sales. Those are what create the obligation for a non-resident, and they are what your monthly return reports.

Q: What wording goes on my invoice?

A: Auto liquidation de la TVA - article 373 Bis du CGI, in French, on invoices you issue to Guinean business customers.

Q: My customer says they should not have to self-assess. Who is right?

A: If they are a Guinean VAT-registered business and you are established outside Guinea, self-assessment is the correct treatment. Point them to the invoice wording, and reach out to us if the conversation stalls.

Q: What if I cannot get my customer's NIF?

A: Then you cannot demonstrate business status, and the sale is treated as a consumer sale. Collecting the NIF at the point of sale is the cleanest fix.

Q: Does the reverse charge apply if my customer is a Guinean business that is not VAT registered?

A: No. The mechanism needs a VAT-registered customer to self-assess. Treat an unregistered buyer as you would a consumer, and raise it with us.

This article is general information about how Kintsugi works, not tax advice for your specific situation.

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