The Ministry of Immigration announced on Monday that the tax-free car import initiative for Egyptian expats has been extended for another 3 months, following the approval of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Law No. 174 of 2023. The law aims to facilitate certain procedures for Egyptians residing abroad and was published in the Official Gazette. Minister of State for Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates' Affairs, Soha Gendi, said that the law allows the reactivation of the initiative for those who did not benefit from it in the first phase. She added that the Cabinet has the authority to extend the period for a similar duration if needed. Gendi explained that the reopening of the initiative came after receiving many requests from Egyptians abroad through the "An Hour with the Minister" initiative and the Fourth Edition of the Conference of Egyptians Abroad, which was organized by the Ministry of Immigration in late July. She said that the law includes the same facilitations as Law No. 161 of 2022, which grants any Egyptian who has a valid legal residency abroad and has not previously obtained the facilitations stipulated in Law No. 161 of 2022 and its amendments the right to import one private passenger car for personal use or any person in his family over the age of 16. She stated that the new law stipulates that the beneficiary must pay the due cash amount in foreign currency under Article 1 of Law No. 161 of 2022 and its amendments within 3 months from the date of the enforcement of this law. Article 1 of Law No. 161 of 2022 provides an exception from the rules and regulations governing the taxes and fees due on the import of passenger cars for personal use, and the customs exemptions provided according to the Customs Law issued by Law No. 207 of 2020, and the import controls provided in the same context. The beneficiary must pay a cash amount in foreign currency that is not subject to any return, to be transferred from abroad to the Ministry of Finance to one of the bank accounts specified by a decision referred to in Article 8 of this law at a rate of 100% of the value of all taxes and fees that were required to be paid for the release of the car, including value-added tax and table tax, except for the customs tax, which reduces its repayment rate to be 30% of the value. This amount is refunded on the day following the end of a period of five years from the date of payment in the same local currency equivalent to the foreign currency paid and at the exchange rate announced by the Central Bank at the time of refund. The cars imported from non-first owners according to this law must not exceed three years from their year of manufacture at the time of customs release.
