Egypt imposes property tax on oil and gas fields

A senior official at Egypt's Ministry of Finance said that his ministry is currently seeking to speed up the implementation of the real estate tax law, and to address the entities subject to the law so as to start collecting the new tax from them. The official noted that the new tax will be imposed on oil fields in Egypt too.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi issued decree 117/2014 amending certain provisions of the Property Tax Law 196/2008. The amendments approved by Al-Sisi state that the criteria should be developed by the finance minister in cooperation with relevant ministers within three months from the ratification of the amendments with regard to the evaluation of industrial, tourism and petroleum facilities, as well as airports, ports, mines, quarries, and other similar facilities of special nature, for the purpose of determining their tax base.

According to the law, property tax is set at 10 per cent of a unit's rental value and three per cent of a unit's capital value, whether the unit is allocated for private accommodation or for other purposes.