LEGISLATION WATCH- The Finance Ministry’s new income tax law will be up for public consultations in 2-4 weeks, Minister Mohamed Maait announced during a press conference held yesterday. The law would raise the personal income tax exemption threshold to EGP 24k, close tax avoidance loopholes for foreign companies, and introduce new rules on the resolution of tax disputes. The bill would replace the 2005 Income Tax Act, which has effectively become a patchwork after multiple rounds of legislative amendments.

Don’t get this confused with the Income Tax Act amendments currently making their way through the House: The amendments would raise the income tax exemption threshold to EGP 14k and raise the upper limit of each tax band — at least until the new Income Tax Act becomes law. The amendments received committee approval last week.

VAT Act amendments will also be ready in 2-4 weeks: The ministry is still finalizing changes to the VAT Act, which Maait announced last year in tandem with announcing the new income tax law, the minister added. Aside from VAT-exemption for local paper companies, the ministry has been scant on details about the amendments, but reassured taxpayers at the time that there would be no changes to the headline VAT rate.