Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait confirmed that requests for ending tax disputes before the courts, tax appeal committees, and grievance committees between tax authorities and financiers or taxpayers will be received until the end of December, explaining that this is a last chance for financiers to end all tax disputes.
He also said that the committees for ending tax disputes are continuing their work to decide on previous applications that have not been decided on so far — in addition to new applications — in a way that helps speed up the completion of accumulated disputes, collect the dues of the state’s public treasury, facilitate procedures for financiers, contribute to the stability of their tax positions, and encourage investors to expand their investment activities in Egypt in a manner consistent with the state’s efforts to attract local and foreign investments.
This is to benefit from the promising opportunities offered by major national and development projects to achieve the goals of comprehensive and sustainable development in order to improve the lives of citizens and raise the level of services provided to them.
Furthermore, Maait revealed that his ministry succeeded in completing more than 57,179 requests to end tax disputes from September 2016 until the end of June 2022 out of the total number of applications submitted — which is 58,871 — with an agreed tax value exceeding EGP 41.149bn.
He stressed the ministry’s keenness to prepare a stimulating environment for local and foreign investments, especially in light of the recent successive economic crises and the resulting disruptions in supply chains, an increase in shipping costs, and a rise in inflation rates to unprecedented levels.
Maait also explained that the tax appeal committees succeeded in establishing many legal principles that contribute to facilitating the settlement of tax disputes and protecting the rights of each party in accordance with the law without prejudice to the confidentiality of tax data for financiers, pointing out that the ministry is proceeding with the development of tax appeal committees in a manner that ensures reducing tax appeals, the duration of consideration of the dispute, and the achievement of tax justice, which helps in laying the foundations of governance, transparency, integrity, and unifying the principles of assessment in pursuit of a more developed, stimulating, and attractive tax system.
For his part, Mokhtar Tawfik — Head of the Egyptian Tax Authority — called on financiers and taxpayers to quickly pay the principal tax debt or the due fee or payable before the date the new Tax Law comes into force — whatever the reason for the obligation to pay — to benefit from this law by overriding 65% of the delay consideration and the additional tax stipulated in the Customs Law, the Stamp Tax Law, the State Financial Resources Development Fee Law, the Income Tax Law, the General Sales Tax Law, the Built Real Estate Tax Law, and the Value Added Tax Law, provided that the financier pays the remaining 35% — which has not been exceeded — within a period not exceeding 1 March, pointing out that this is the last opportunity to benefit from this exemption for all types of tax and customs arrears.
