The Finance Ministry has held its ground with the lawyers, who will have to pay a 10% value-added tax (VAT) as per the executive regulations that have begun leaking to the press. The Lawyer’s Syndicate had filed suit to be exempted from that VAT, arguing that their profession enjoys some form of constitutional protection against taxation. (We wish we were kidding. Really.) Accountants will also find their services are subject to VAT as professional services.

Healthcare, financial services will be almost entirely VAT-exempt: The regs will also reportedly confirm that all healthcare services (excluding cosmetic procedures and non-health related commercial activity undertaken by hospitals and clinics) are exempt. Al Borsa’s rundown on the regulations does not specify how private medical practices will be handled. Financials services are also exempt, but the newspaper does not make clear the face of non-core services offered by banks, including fees on safety deposit boxes and trustee services. a point of contention between the Finance Ministry and the Federation of Egyptian Banks. VAT commissioner Abdel Moneim Mattar, however, implied that these services will be taxed under the VAT, Al Mal reports.

Investment bankers, too? We’re also looking for confirmation in the final regulations that non-bank financial services including investment banking advisory, asset management, brokerage, leasing and the rest of them are all VAT-exempt. Per our original primer on the VAT, financial services that are exempt from VAT include services that are the “sole purview of banks”; FX trading; non-bank financial services regulated by the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority; insurance and reinsurance; and banking services offered by Egypt Post.

The executive regulations will also set a 5% schedule tax on construction contractors as well as for all “media productions,” the newspaper reports. (A schedule tax is a tax other than the 13% baseline rate in effect from early September of this year, rising to 14% next year.)