Benin extends the TVA and customs exemption for electric and hybrid motorcycles to their spare parts from 1 January 2024

What changed in detail

Benin’s Loi n° 2023-01 du 20 décembre 2023 portant loi de finances pour la gestion 2024 was adopted by the Assemblée nationale on 8 December 2023 and promulgated on 20 December 2023.

Its Article 12 takes up and amends Article 14 of the finance law for 2022 (Loi n° 2021-16 du 23 décembre 2021). That 2022 article had already exempted electric and hybrid motorcycles imported, manufactured or sold in Benin from customs duties and TVA from 1 January 2022.

The restated text provides that, from 1 January 2024, electric and hybrid motorcycles and their spare parts (pièces détachées), imported or manufactured in Benin, are exempt from customs duties and TVA. Two things differ from the 2022 wording: the exemption now reaches spare parts, and the list of covered operations names import and manufacture but no longer sale.

The exempted goods remain subject to the community solidarity levy (PCS), the community levy (PC), the solidarity levy (PS), the urban development fee (RAU), the statistics tax (T. STAT), the customs stamp (TD) and the road toll (TV).

What it means

The exemption took effect on 1 January 2024. We have not found a later Beninese finance law that repeals or amends Article 12, but we could not read the 2025 and 2026 finance laws in full, so treat its current status as unconfirmed and check the latest loi de finances before relying on it.

The practical gain in 2024 was for repairers and parts importers: spare parts for electric and hybrid motorcycles came off TVA and customs duty, not only the vehicles. The dropped reference to sales means a local reseller buying exempt stock should check how its own onward sale is treated rather than assume it is exempt too. The listed levies still apply at the border, so the landed cost is not tax-free.