Egypt imposes taxes on private tutors

CAIRO - 4 November 2021: Egypt has imposed taxes on any tutor who gives private lessons or private courses at educational centers, homes, or major halls, said the Egyptian Tax Authority in a statement on Wednesday.

 

“Whoever gives private lessons at centers, associations, halls, apartments, or online […] shall  go to the tax office, in which the headquarters of the activity is located, to notify whether he has a tax file or to open a new tax file for his activity,” said head of the Egyptian Tax Authority Abdel Qader.

 

The authority gave a one-month period for the private tutors to settle down their tax situations.

 

“The Ministry of Finance and the authority are keen to integrate the informal economy into the formal one, and to contribute to conducting a more accurate inventory of the tax community,” said Abdel Qader.

 

He added that notifying the tax office of the activity of private tutoring, and opening a tax file is not a legal basis to legalize the status of private tutoring centers.

 

Those who will abstain from having a tax file, will be considered as a tax evasion.

 

In October 2018, the Ministry of Education has launched a campaign to close down a number of private tutoring centers for school students.

 

The number of private lesson centers that were closed over the period from December 1, 2020 until September 2021, reached 97,500 said the Ministry of Local Development.

 

The Ministry of Education has made significant efforts over several decades to ban private tutoring for school students, as private lessons have become a major burden to families’ household incomes.

 

Parents and children have turned to private lessons outside school premises, which prepare students to the Thanaweya Amma (high school) final exams.

 

Average fees per student amount to around LE 30,000 (about $1,677) over the Thanaweya Amma year, the final year of schooling over the course of 10 months, including private lessons that may consume up to 33 hours a week. Private tutoring remains common despite the government’s efforts to limit it.

 

 

Additional reporting by Amr Mohamed Kandil