All B2B invoices issued by businesses based in the Greater Cairo Area will be automated by June, director of taxpayer services at the Tax Authority Mohsen El Gayar told Enterprise.

B2C invoices across the country will be fully automated by December, as will B2B invoices from firms in the Delta, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, El Gayar said. Since fewer companies operate in these governorates, automating their invoices will be less time-consuming, he explained.

This is sooner than expected: The ministry started its tax automation process for B2B invoices two years ago, originally saying it would have all companies using the B2B e-invoicing system by April 2023.

The system kicked off in 2020: The first phase of the Tax Authority’s e-invoicing system was up and running in November 2020 with a selected 134 companies who were chosen to kick off the system by logging their invoices electronically to the Finance Ministry’s platform. The system is designed to clamp down on tax evasion and compel companies that have not registered with the Tax Authority to do so.

How does it work? Businesses must obtain an e-signature using the steps outlined here and register their products and services to an account on the Tax Authority’s platform. Using the account, they log all of their invoices on the platform. The authority will then be able to track each transaction back through the customer’s regular tax filings, which will include the invoice.

Our digital customs system will also be in full implementation by June, El Gayar said, confirming the timeline previously suggested to us by Khaled Nassef, technology advisor for the Egyptian Company for E-commerce Technology. FinMin’s Nafeza system went live for maritime importers in October and the ministry is looking to extend the system to air freight soon.