President Abdel Fattah El Sisi yesterday ratified amendments to the VAT and the Stamp Tax laws alongside several other pieces of legislation, per an announcement in the official gazette (pdf).

How are VAT and stamp tax changing? The new legislation changes up the tax treatment for a handful of services and products. Under the amendments, fully-finished “broadcast” advertisements — advertisements on TV, radio, outdoor billboards and the interwebs — will be subject to 14% VAT, replacing the 20% stamp tax to which they were previously subject; and stamp tax on most ins. premiums would be raised by 1%. We have more on the amendments to both laws, which were approved by the House of Representatives late last year, here and here.

More legislation ratified by El Sisi yesterday:

• A bill that provides for 5-15% of the annual surplus generated by ministerial “private funds” to be transferred to the state treasury. The bill is expected to generate a combined EGP 2.5-3 bn for state revenues, equalling some 7-8% of the annual EGP 36 bn surplus. The legislation, which was first approved in 2018, sunsets each year and requires renewal.
• Amendments to some provisions of the law governing public universities, and the law governing the Academy of Arts.

Next steps: The legislation will take effect once the executive regulations are published in the official gazette.

What won’t be seeing the light: The House Education Committee rejected yesterday amendments to the Education Act that would have seen an EGP 500-1k fine imposed on parents whose children miss school without sufficient reason, according to Youm7.