E-receipt system pilot to kick off in April: The Finance Ministry will launch its e-receipt system for B2C transactions this Friday, 1 April, to complement the ongoing rollout of its wider e-invoicing program, it said in a statement yesterday.

Who’s involved: The ministry didn’t disclose which companies are taking part in the pilot. It said last year that 100 taxpayers would participate, without providing further details.

How it works: Sales data controllers (SDCs) will be installed in all payment processing systems used by retailers and wholesalers to monitor and record all tax-relevant transactions. A state contractor (see below) will provide retailers with POS machines and will be responsible for activating and monitoring them and providing the necessary technical support.

The system aims to help the Tax Authority monitor and verify all commercial transactions of goods and services between taxpayers and consumers in real time, while cracking down on tax evasion and reducing the size of the informal economy. It could also boost consumer rights, since purchasers will no longer have to keep hold of paper receipts if they end up deciding to return items, the statement read.

It’s an e-Finance affair: The system is being implemented by E-Tax, a subsidiary of EGX-listed fintech player e-Finance.

OFFICIAL SPIN- “Citizens will soon see the positive impact it will have on them,” Tax Authority senior official Salah Ismail told Al Tasi’a’s Youssef El Husseiny in a phone-in (watch, runtime 19:26) last night.

What’s the current state of the wider e-invoicing rollout? Over 52k companies have so far registered on the system, more than 43k of whom have activated their accounts, sending some 154 mn e-invoices, according to the statement. The system has so far detected over 17k cases of tax evasion, clawing back more than EGP 6 bn for the treasury, officials say.

The Tax Authority launched a pilot with 134 companies in late 2020, before extending the system to all large taxpayers last July. All B2B invoices issued by businesses based in the Greater Cairo Area will be automated by June, director of taxpayer services at the Tax Authority Mohsen El Gayar recently told Enterprise, while B2C invoices across the country should be fully automated by December.