EXCLUSIVE- FinMin looks into drafting a new Income Tax Act: The Finance Ministry has formed a committee to look into drafting a new Income Tax Act, Tax Authority deputy head Mohamed Abdel Sattar told Enterprise. It has become necessary to thoroughly update the current Income Tax Act, which is now a bit outdated despite the flurry of amendments seen over the past two years, he added. The move appears to be an attempt to bring the Income Tax Act up to speed with other legislation recently passed and to account for a host of new activities not covered under existing law. He added that the new law would be ready before the end of the current fiscal year.

So what’s coming with the new law? Everything is apparently on the table: The new law would be comprehensive and cover income tax rates, exemptions and tax breaks, and will factor in e-commerce, Abdel Sattar said without elaborating further on the content. Abdel Sattar noted, however, that the committee may decide to go with a seperate law to tax online ad sales on Facebook and Google. Finance Minister Mohamed Maait had told us last week that amendments coming to the act would streamline tax procedures and cut red tape.

What’s that you say? Changes to the income tax rate? All of this meshes with previous talk by ministry officials that they are looking to tax e-commerce and online ad buys. It also comes as the House of Representatives has been calling for a new tax bracket for high income earners: A proposal has been floated to raise the income tax on those earning over EGP 1 mn per annum to 30% from a current 22.5%.