The Egyptian Real Estate Tax Authority has released a booklet outlining the conditions for exempting privately owned homes from real estate taxes, according to a statement by the Ministry of Finance. The booklet states that private residential units with a net rental value less than EGP 24,000 annually, as well as homes valued at less than EGP 2 million pounds, qualify for exemption. The owner of a residential unit and their family are exempted upon presenting the ownership contract, public utilities document and a photocopy of the national identification card. The booklet clarifies that a family in this case should consist of a father, mother and their underage children. Last week, Egypt's Minister of Finance Mohamed Maeet extended the deadline for paying real estate taxes without late fees from 15 August until 15 October. According to the website of the ministry's Real Estate Tax Authority, property owners, but not tenants, must pay the tax on any non-empty land. The tax amounts to 10 percent of the annual rental value of the property. Tax evaders will be fined between EGP 1,000 and 5,000 (approx. $55 - $280) and are required to pay the equivalent of the tax in compensation. Violators, including those who submit fake documents or abstain from submitting necessary exemption documents, will be fined between EGP 200 and 2,000 (approx $11-$112). Since its introduction in 2008, the implementation of property taxes in Egypt has been repeatedly postponed in recent years, but is now deemed crucial to curbing a widening state budget deficit. Property taxes are expected to bring in around EGP 5.4 billion in additional government revenues in the 2018/19 fiscal revenues.
