Egypt's real estate transaction tax achieves LE7B annually

CAIRO – 29 June 2021: Real estate tax is a stable tax and generates income for the state estimated at about LE 7 billion annually, the Egyptian Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait said Tuesday.

Maait added that the real estate tax is one of the oldest types of taxes in the legislative system, noting that it is a tax imposed when real estate is disposed of by sale, and the burden of which is borne by the seller, not the buyer.

He stressed that it is one of the important taxes that the state avoids debts to pay for financial obligations to increase pensions and salaries and spend on social protection programs and others, noting that the development of the tax is up for discussion as long as it preserves state revenues.

The Egyptian Minister of Finance indicated that there is another tax imposed on real estate investment of up to 25 percent, and that the title is the basis for the tax collection process.

Regarding the basis on which the real estate tax was estimated at 2.5 percent, the Minister of Finance explained that the beginning of this tax was 5 percent and was reduced in the 1990s to 2.5 percent, noting that there is a philosophy and thought that governs these matters, and all aspects of its application are studied from the legal and constitutional point of view.

As for the possibility of replacing the tax with a lump sum estimated according to the area of ​​the property, the Egyptian Minister of Finance stressed that there will be unfairness due to the difference in the value of real estate from one region to another, expressing his welcome to the proposal to establish a single window to facilitate registration procedures for citizens, as applied in the Ministry of Investment.

This came during a meeting held by the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Maait, with a delegation from the Coordination of Youth of Parties and Politicians, which witnessed a discussion of a number of issues of interest to the Egyptian citizen, including the real estate tax, as it is linked to the tax established in the real estate month law, whose implementation President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi decided to postpone for two years and conduct a community dialogue about it.

In response to the proposal to extract a smart card for tracking and monitoring of tax transactions, Maait indicated that it already exists and will be circulated to all citizens so that the citizen can know all his dealings with the Tax Authority and how to calculate the taxes he pays, and that with the completion of the mechanization system everyone will see all transactions and how The country's economy is managed.

Regarding the reason for postponing the implementation of the pre-registration of imports (ACI) system, Maait said that every new system faces challenges at the beginning of its implementation, and that the 3-month delay was necessary; To avoid a shortage of any necessary products or commodities within the country, he expressed his optimism that the system would succeed and that Egypt would be the first country to implement this system in the region.