A total of 340 companies will be required to submit tax returns and sales receipts electronically as of February, when the Tax Authority kicks off the second phase of its new electronic invoicing system, said Mohsen El-Gayar, director of taxpayer services at the authority, according to Al Masry Al Youm. Those companies will be able to use a mobile application the authority plans to develop to issue e-invoices. El-Gayar previously said that as many as 2.5k companies would take part in the second phase. It appears that the authority has decided to downsize the number of companies included in this phase.

Background: Currently, 134 companies are on board the first phase of the system being trialed by the authority. Companies will be able to submit tax returns and sales receipts electronically on the system, which will also give businesses the ability to complete audit requests online, eliminating the requirement to maintain physical receipts of sales invoices. This all comes as part of the government’s planned unified digital tax payment system, which will enable businesses to file and pay income tax, stamp tax, VAT and real estate tax through a single online platform.