The Real Estate Taxation Authority (RTA) has begun sending letters of property taxation after a protocol signed by the Ministries of Finance and Industry, according to RTA Head Samia Hussein. The new protocol covers the rental value of the real estate of factories in the country. Hussein said on Wednesday that meetings will be held this week with the Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaazou, to agree on the criteria to set the pricing policy for rent in hotels. Meetings will also be held between the Minister of Finance Hany Kadry Dimian and the ministers of petroleum, transportation, and civil aviation, respectively. The meeting will allow ministers to agree on a standard rent pricing policy for petroleum, airport, and port facilities. The announcement came during a workshop organised by KPMG Hazem Hassan on taxation in the presence of managing partner of KPMG Hatem Montasser and several major company officials working in the industry, tourism, investment, real estate, and petroleum sectors. During his speech, Chairman of KPMG Hazem Hassan, pointed to the efforts of the Ministry of Finance in issuing the new real estate law. He added that the new law will create social justice among real estate owners after many years as there was the interference of other legislation and different laws on the old law. He added that the latest amendments to the real estate law have fostered a balance for the tax base and low-income individuals, raising the limit for tax exemption to EGP 24,000 annually. The provision achieves both social justice and benefits for the treasury when all real estate units are taxable, excluding family houses. He added that these amendments were like a safety valve. Popular demands were also made to raise the tax on real estate worth over EGP 2m because the tax burden for these units is limited. Hussein said the finance minister stated that low-income individuals who own real estate units in rural areas and slums have more rights to tax exemption. What is best for the taxpayer should be taken into account in case of any conflict with land owners or when preparing the executive regulations of the new amendments. She added that the number of appeals the authority received for the housing, administrative, and trading unit evaluation committees was limited, contrary to expectations. Until now, the number of appeals remains 28,000, which is only 1% of the total notices taxpayers received (4.6m notices). Hussein announced that there will be four groups working under the authority in all governorates, and she will be heading all of them. The committees will be charged with reviewing these notices and solving what can be addressed before referring the issue to the appeals committee. She pointed out that, so far, the initial review of the appeals demonstrated that many have to do with old units which were sent notifications of the new real estate tax law. This came despite their tax-exempt status under the new law. For other appeals, land owners demanded the right to a tax exemption for all their real estate units since the value is less than the minimum amount for a tax exemption.
