42,000 apply to tax-free car import initiative for expats

Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait said on Monday that about 42,000 applied for the tax-free car import initiative for expats, and 12,000 payment orders were issued with a total value of $202m.

He added that more than 2,900 car import approvals were issued, valid for one year from the date of its issuance.

Maait confirmed that the recent facilities approved by the Cabinet will continue, including cancelling the deposit before the transfer, so that it is sufficient to submit a bank statement for the six months preceding the date. The transfer shows the movements of deposit, withdrawal and transfer, as well as cancelling the requirement to attest the residence documents, the bank account statement and the vehicle data certificate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through embassies and diplomatic missions abroad.

Al-Shahat Ghattouri, head of the Customs Authority, said that the recent facilitations for importing cars of Egyptians abroad included re-evaluating cars according to graduated categories, basic, medium, and high, which means adding new categories at the request of Egyptians abroad, with a lower customs and tax value according to the number of luxuries. In light of this, the tables were published in the “application” of the initiative, which determines the value of the due cash amount that will be transferred from abroad in favour of the Ministry of Finance.

He added that it was agreed with the customs clearance unions and people on an estimate for the customs clearance service for the cars of Egyptians abroad, so that they do not exceed EGP 3,000.

He pointed out that an operations room has been formed that includes car customs managers at various customs outlets, to ensure speedy customs release, as they specialize in immediate intervention to overcome any obstacles, explaining that the names of members of the operations room have been published on the electronic platform, so that Egyptians abroad can communicate with them when necessary.