(AFP Photo)
By Farah Bahgat
The tax authority has issued approximately 2 million tax exemptions for built properties, a Tuesday statement from the Ministry of Finance said.
The number of exempted properties represents the total number of requests submitted by citizens to the authority since it sent the tax notifications.
Tax notifications were sent to 6.3m residential units, and 1.8m commercial, industrial and service units, including approximately 1,000 factories.
Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian affirmed that 25% of the property tax revenue will be directed towards the governorates of Egypt “as an extra resource to carry out their projects”, as well as another 25% for the slum areas that require more resources for development. He added that 50% will be directed to the state budget to be spent on the development of education, health, insurance, and development projects in the governorates.
Head of the Tax Authority Samia Hussien has declared that the authority is currently evaluating the value of “special units” affiliated to the Ministries of Petroleum, Transportation, Tourism and Civil Aviation. This is in order to send notifications for property units in their possession, as well as other units in other sectors throughout the country.
The property tax law was amended in August 2014, whereby owners of a single real estate unit worth EGP 2m would be included in the tax exemption.
The tax exemption also includes hospitals, educational entities, non-profit organisations, clubs and armed forces clinics, as well as residential properties with annual rents less than EGP 2,400 and commercial units with annual rents less than EGP 1,200. However, the law excludes tourist resorts and hotels. Units worth less than EGP 500,000 are also subject to the tax exemption.
