Back to the complete issue
Tuesday, 21 January 2020

FinMin to place new income tax law up for public consultation in 2-4 weeks

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.

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.