Recently, the Egyptian Government has announced several tax measures to mitigate the financial effect in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main tax measures are as following:

  • Capital Gains: the extension of the suspension from the taxation of Capital Gains on securities listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) for Egyptian residents until 31 December 2021, which was originally due to expire on 16 May 2020. The exemption from the taxation of Capital Gains on securities listed on the EGX for non-residents will be permanent.
  • Dividends: withholding tax on dividends paid by listed companies in EGX will be reduced from 10% to 5%.
  • Stamp Duty: the cost of transactions in the EGX will be reduced from 0.15% to 0.125% and from 0.15% to 0.05% for non-residents and Egyptian residents, respectively. All spot transactions on EGX will be exempt from stamp duty.
  • Property Tax: three months extension for the payment of property taxes for companies in the industrial and tourism sector. The property taxes shall be payable in monthly installments over the following six months.

On 27 April 2020, The Egyptian Ministry of Finance has issued a release prescribing that the income tax owed on a general declaration will be paid in installments for all companies operating in the sectors affected by the COVID-19, to pay 20% of the tax due during the of April, 30% during May, and 50% before the end of June without incurring any late delay or fines. This will be applicable for the aviation sector, the tourism and antiquities sector, including restaurants and cafes, the hotel sector, the press and media sectors, and the industrial sector, especially companies that work in the field of export, except for industrial establishments operating in the food sector and Medicines, health care supplies and detergents, the transport and communications sector, car distributors, the hospital sector, the contracting sector, some software companies and companies operating in the telecommunications services affected by the current conditions, clubs and facilities operating in the sports field negatively affected by the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic.