FinMin collects EGP 30 bn in back taxes after settling 30k tax disputes: The Finance Ministry settled more than 30k tax disputes between March and June, netting the government more than EGP 30 bn in back taxes, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a statement on Friday. The passage of a temporary tax dispute bill in March allowed the ministry to offer incentives to taxpayers to file for a settlement until the end of June. The ministry settled almost EGP 18k income tax disputes in the four-month period, collecting EGP 14.3 bn in the process. It also collected EGP 15 bn in unpaid VAT while real estate disputes were settled for EGP 989 mn.

A bill to extend the Tax Dispute Resolution Act once again until 31 December is now with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi for final approval, head of the Tax Authority’s central administration Saeed Fouad said yesterday (watch, runtime: 5:11). The House of Representatives had signed off last month on the bill, which would also waive interest and late fees on taxes for late taxpayers.

Background: The temporary tax dispute resolution bill signed into law earlier this year extended the Tax Dispute Resolution Act, allowing newly-established dispute settlement committees to handle tax disputes and unfreeze assets until 30 June. The law initially permitted businesses to make a 10% down payment to unfreeze their assets, file for settlement and enroll in a repayment plan. The Finance Ministry later reduced the down payment for businesses to 5% of dues owed to the government and 1% for individual taxpayers who had yet to submit an appeal.