EXCLUSIVE- Finance Ministry plans digital revamp of tax filing system, aims to clamp down on bogus receipts in bid to bolster state revenues: The Finance Ministry is looking to revamp the tax filing system, with the goal of making it fully digital and building a single platform to file and report all of one’s taxes, Tax Authority head Emad Samy told Enterprise. The ministry is also planning to unify and overhaul the country’s billing and receipt collection system to better monitor and verify billings, reduce fraudulent receipts and write-offs, and get a better view of the informal economy, said Samy, who declined to provide further detail. The ministry is already looking at offers from around six or seven foreign companies to establish this system.

No changes to tax code other than whatever comes out in SME Act: Members of the business community can take a deep breath: Whatever rumors are circulating, the tax policy stability promised by Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy is still the order of the day. Samy confirmed that the Finance Ministry has no plans to change the tax code other than as required by provisions of the planned SME Act, which would outline a new tax framework to encourage small businesses to join the formal economy. Expect the legislation to be introduced to House of Representatives soon, he added.

Tax base growing: With just a few days left before corporate tax returns for FY2017 are due, corporate tax revenues are expected to rise to EGP 55.5 bn for the current tax season, up from EGP 33 bn the year before, Samy added. The government is projecting total tax receipts for FY2017-18, including the value-added tax, will hit EGP 604 bn in FY2017-18.