Back to the complete issue
Sunday, 2 September 2018

Lawyers are fighting the tax man

Topping headlines on the airwaves were the agreements signed with China during President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s trip to Beijing (the details of which we cover extensively in Speed Round, below).

Lawyers are not happy about paying higher income tax: An increase in the income tax for lawyers imposed under amendments to the Income Tax Act in August have apparently sparked the ire of the with the Lawyer’s Syndicate. The backlash has apparently led the Finance Ministry to reduce the tax over the past few days, said Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim (yes, still no Lamees). Assistant Finance Minister Osama Tawakol said the tax is not new and dates back to 2005. The tax reduction followed meetings between the ministry and the head of the syndicate Sameh Ashour, he noted (watch, runtime: 7:34).

Now the lawyers are gunning for more: Naturally, this backpedaling by the Finance Ministry has emboldened the Syndicate to push for new reductions. Ashour called in to say that the VAT on lawyers “will also be addressed” at future meetings with the ministry (watch, runtime: 4:18).

Because lawyers perform such a valuable service to the nation that they should be tax-exempt, right? It’s almost enough to make us want to repeat our favourite lawyer joke (told to us by the lawyers in our family as well as by friends who toil at the bar).

The Egyptian Countryside Development Company will launch a tender on Monday for the development of 100k feddans in Minya as part of the 1.5 mn feddans project, CEO Ater Hanoura said. The winning bidders will pay EGP 1,000 per annum under a 25-year land rights agreement, with a 10% increase every 3 years, Hanoura told Hona Al Asema (watch, runtime: 9:41).

Other highlights on the airwaves: Hona Al Asema’s Reham Ibrahim hosted a debate on the Health Ministry’s efforts to reduce drug addiction by 50% by 2025 (watch, runtime: 28:35).

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.