Gov’t looks to raise stamp tax on phone lines

EXCLUSIVE- Gov’t looks to raise stamp tax on phone lines: The Finance Ministry could raise the stamp tax on phone lines through legislative amendments now on the drafting table, a ministry source told Enterprise. Mobile network customers currently pay EGP 6 a year in stamp tax dues for their credit usage, whether that be under a monthly payment plan or phone top-up cards. The ministry will hold meetings with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and mobile network operators to decide how much the stamp tax will increase. The ministry could raise the fees by 2-4x. A senior government official had told us last month that the ministry was mulling raising the stamp tax or introducing an entirely different fee to replace the EGP 50 levy imposed on new phone lines at the start of the fiscal year in July.