New fees under Egypt’s resource development law do not apply to commodities: Minister

CAIRO – 26 May 2023: New fees to develop state resources approved by the Egyptian House of Representatives' Budget and Plan Committee do not apply to basic and essential goods for citizens, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait has said.

In a statement on Friday, Maait also denied applying the new fees on durable goods, soft drinks, cosmetics or perfumes, noting that the amendments will only cover “non-essential” goods, including caviar and smoked salmon.

The minister added that the amendments to the Resource Development Law raise departure fees for Egyptians by LE 50, while departure fees for foreigners remain unchanged.

Amendments to the law of tax on entering theaters and other entertainment places approved by the parliamentary committee also raised the fees for a number of entertainment activities, including ice skating, singing parties and disco from LE 1 to LE 20.

Meanwhile, approved amendments to the income tax law include increasing tax exemption limit by 50 percent to LE 36,000 annually in order to achieve social justice, Maait said.

Amendments also included an incentive of no more than 5 percent of the total tax value due annually for individuals who are obligated to submit electronic invoices and receipts.

The amendments allocated a reward of no more than 10 percent of additional tax for any citizen who helps detect cases of tax evasion.

As per the amendments, simplified tax accounting will be carried out for small or micro projects whose turnover does not exceed LE 10 million annually.

The tax for the projects whose sales or turnover do not exceed LE 250,000 will be LE 1,000 annually, while those with sales or turnover amounting to less than LE 500,000 will pay a tax of LE 2,500.

Also, project owners will pay a tax of LE 5,000 in case the sales or turnover of their projects are less than LE 1 million.

Projects with sales ranging from LE 1-2 million, LE 2-3 million and LE 3-10 million will pay a tax of 0.5 percent, 7.5 percent and 1 percent of the volume of sales respectively.

Moreover, the amendments include readdressing the tax on dividends with the aim of alleviating the tax burden on companies, the minister added.