The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) has asked prosecutors to open investigations into four companies with e-commerce activities for allegedly not registering with the authority, ETA head Reda Abdelkader said in a statement yesterday. An additional four companies that have not been reporting their revenues from online sales as part of their tax filings were also referred to prosecution, Abdelkader said. The statement did not name the companies that face probes, but said they included companies selling ready-made garments, imported clothing, bedding and tobacco products.

Cracking down on untaxed online sales: The tax authority has recently moved to oblige businesses selling goods online to disclose their tax registration numbers in the post advertising the product, as a way to crack down on tax evasion for online sales. This applies to ads on websites or social media platforms.

Online retailers should also pay heed to their VAT payments, the ETA boss said. Online retailers have been required since October 2018 to settle their VAT payments electronically with the government at the end of every month as other retailers do, as part of the state’s efforts to outline a framework for taxing e-commerce sales, including charging and remitting VAT on online delivery services as of 3 June, under an executive amendment to the VAT Act.