Egypt’s second tax package to ease compliance for businesses – minister

Egypt’s Finance Minister Ahmed Kouchouk said on Thursday that a second package of tax facilitation measures will incorporate recommendations from recent consultations with tax and accounting professionals, as the government seeks to strengthen trust and certainty with the tax community.

Speaking during an open dialogue with tax and accounting experts, Kouchouk said the new package builds on earlier reforms and is designed to address practical challenges facing taxpayers, delivering what he described as “tangible results” for compliant businesses.

He said the ministry plans to expand the issuance of explanatory tax guides and further standardise and simplify procedures, adding that a broader tax policy strategy will be announced before the end of the current fiscal year. Digital tools and artificial intelligence will play a central role in improving services, he said.

The second package includes greater flexibility for compliant companies, faster value-added tax refunds, full tax credit offsetting, and the use of stamp duty instead of capital gains tax in certain transactions. It also provides financial incentives for large companies to list on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), while firms contributing to strategic projects will be allowed to deduct interest on external borrowing from their taxable base.

Additional measures include exempting dividend distributions between Egyptian subsidiaries and holding companies to prevent double taxation, cutting VAT on medical devices to 5 per cent from 14 per cent, and fixing the real estate disposal tax at 2.5 per cent of the sale value, regardless of how often properties are traded.

Kouchouk said a mobile application for real estate transactions will be launched for the first time to streamline procedures, while legislation on settling tax disputes will be renewed to improve resolution

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: Y.Yasser