Back to the complete issue
Thursday, 30 August 2018

ECMA lobbies EGX, FinMin to cut tax on dividends by up to 50%

Industry association lobbying to slash withholding tax on dividends: The Egyptian Capital Markets Association (ECMA) is lobbying the EGX and Finance Ministry to cut withholding tax on dividends by up to 50%, ECMA head Mohamed Maher tells Al Mal. As matters stand today, dividends paid by listed and privately held companies alike are subject to a 10% withholding tax that falls to 5% if the shareholder owns more than 25% of the company and has held its shares for at least two years (the good people at PricewaterhouseCoopers have more here and here and here). Maher is arguing that cutting the tax in half will make listings on the EGX more attractive.

Background: The Mehleb government had imposed the dividends tax back in 2014, and had been mulling a capital gains tax on stock market transactions. Under pressure from retail investors, the capital gains tax was scrapped, but the government decided to keep the dividends tax in place.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.