Gov’t takes additional steps to eliminate tax disputes across key sectors: The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) is working on sector-specific tax guidelines across a number of sectors in Egypt’s economy as part of an effort to eliminate tax disputes in the future, a government source told EnterpriseAM.

The ETA has completed the guidelines for a number of key sectors — including the banking, real estate development and investment, tourism, petroleum, and the auto sectors, our source said. The authority has been looking to reinstate sector-specific taxation guidelines among several fresh tax facilities — some of which have already come into effect.

What the guidelines will entail: The new guidelines are structured based on the needs of each industry and its business development — specifically in the real estate sector, where there were several issues related to transactions, contracts, and partnership models that were challenging to tax appropriately. The goal is to facilitate tax procedures and reduce future disputes with priority sectors.

What’s next: The standards are under review to be presented later to industry leaders, a move expected to lead to a significant consensus on tax mechanisms based on each industry's needs. Following their implementation for priority sectors, the ETA aims to gradually issue similar regulations across all sectors based on the number of taxpayers and the priority of each sector. The new framework is expected to eventually apply to 710 commercial and industrial activities, informed sources previously told EnterpriseAM.

The previous one-size-fits-all approach was problematic: The government had previously implemented an income tax law that included tax regulations for a number of sectors, including gold, quarries, and fishing; however, the regulations were later scrapped after they resulted in tax disputes due to differences related to the nature of each sector, our source said.

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