# Property Tax



## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

Hi, I am looking for anyone who has real knowledge about the new property tax law here in Egypt in order to try and make sense of it all.

I understand that the new law may have been reactivated in July of this year. I have read articles that say the first residence is exempt. I have read articles that suggest that if your home is worth less than 500,000 LE (or some say 2 million LE) you will be exempt. I have read articles that suggest a 'rental value' is calculated and you have to pay tax on the residual amount after property maintenance of 30% is deducted but I am not clear(?) on if the first premise i.e. value of the home is such that the second premise i.e. rental value does not count or if the value of the home does not count if there is a rental value or even if any of this comes into play if you only own one property. With me so far?

I have read articles also that suggest that the property tax is not retrospective and only applies from July 2013 so...........................................

Anyone got any idea at all what the situation is please? My friend has been sent a bill for 3720 LE by her agent and is unsure whether she a) is liable and b) whether it is correct.

Many thanks in advance.


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> Hi, I am looking for anyone who has real knowledge about the new property tax law here in Egypt in order to try and make sense of it all.
> 
> I understand that the new law may have been reactivated in July of this year. I have read articles that say the first residence is exempt. I have read articles that suggest that if your home is worth less than 500,000 LE (or some say 2 million LE) you will be exempt. I have read articles that suggest a 'rental value' is calculated and you have to pay tax on the residual amount after property maintenance of 30% is deducted but I am not clear(?) on if the first premise i.e. value of the home is such that the second premise i.e. rental value does not count or if the value of the home does not count if there is a rental value or even if any of this comes into play if you only own one property. With me so far?
> 
> ...



Have been trying to get some more info for you.....this is what i have got so far and the person who gave it to me is going to see if he can look it up and be more specific.

There is the NEW property tax law which was passed in the final years of Mubarak era, but has never been implemented and will be much higher (a percentage of the estimated rental value even if it is not rented), it has been put on hold several times, so I think as soon as the government is in tight need for cash they will implement it ..... could end up paying a few thousand pounds per year .

If he gets back to me with anymore info i will pass it onto you.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

I found this article from April 2013, but with the 'change of government' anything can happen now

New Egyptian property tax law slated to go into effect in July | Al-Shorfa


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> Hi, I am looking for anyone who has real knowledge about the new property tax law here in Egypt in order to try and make sense of it all.
> 
> I understand that the new law may have been reactivated in July of this year. I have read articles that say the first residence is exempt. I have read articles that suggest that if your home is worth less than 500,000 LE (or some say 2 million LE) you will be exempt. I have read articles that suggest a 'rental value' is calculated and you have to pay tax on the residual amount after property maintenance of 30% is deducted but I am not clear(?) on if the first premise i.e. value of the home is such that the second premise i.e. rental value does not count or if the value of the home does not count if there is a rental value or even if any of this comes into play if you only own one property. With me so far?
> 
> ...



Apparently assessments are now being sent out in Hurghada.


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

Thanks for the info Hurghadapat but are the assessments dating back to 2007 do you know? And are they being sent to the actual owners themselves? Any info appreciated.


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> Thanks for the info Hurghadapat but are the assessments dating back to 2007 do you know? And are they being sent to the actual owners themselves? Any info appreciated.


Will have to get back to you on that one....but is this person actually living in property or using it as a rental property...just wondered why an agent would be involved.


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

They are renting it out for about 40 weeks of the year - does that make a difference and if so what difference - do you know? As I stated before not sure whether they are exempt because they only own one property and/or it is worth less than 500,000 le or they are liable because of the 'rental value'. They are also being told they are liable for tax dating back to 2007 and all the sources I have looked at seem to indicate that tax is only to be paid on property from 2010 at the absolute earliest.
Thanks for taking the time to help by the way.


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> They are renting it out for about 40 weeks of the year - does that make a difference and if so what difference - do you know? As I stated before not sure whether they are exempt because they only own one property and/or it is worth less than 500,000 le or they are liable because of the 'rental value'. They are also being told they are liable for tax dating back to 2007 and all the sources I have looked at seem to indicate that tax is only to be paid on property from 2010 at the absolute earliest.
> Thanks for taking the time to help by the way.



Sorry not getting a great deal of info as everyone seems to be in the dark about it all (typical egypt) but this is the latest.


Again I can only speak for Hurghada...and the residential building in which I live. The managing agents simply presented owners with assessments which had been raised on the agents (the tax office probably didn't know the names of the individual owners) . Some demands went back to 2008. Some were for 100LE...some for 3000LE....on virtually identical properties! The agents were unable to give any coherent explanation of the situation and a visit to the tax office proved equally fruitless. Some owners have had legal advice that they need to pay. Others that it's nonsense! Welcome to Egypt!!! Our agents tried something similar a couple of years back....those who ignored them heard nothing more.

The joys of owning property in Egypt !


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

I own a practically identical apartment on the same complex as my friend. She rents hers out but I have never done so. I have had no demands made on me at all but she has received this bill from her agent. When she has queried it, he has said that the bill is from the tax office but has also said the owners of the complex are demanding money and threatening legal action. He has broken down the amount into yearly sums and said that if she does not pay her apartment will be repossessed. He says the bill was worked out from 2007 to June 2013 on the size of the apartment (ie one bedroom, two bedroom etc) and that that is the money that is outstanding. He says that they had had 60 days to dispute this amount (one assumes from June 2013) and that opportunity has now expired! He further says that there is a new law in place now (started July 2013) and that that one is based on square meters and the area the apartment is in and that she will have to pay that one too.
None of the articles I have read about this property tax seem to indicate that the tax goes back to 2007 and I am wondering whether this is not a property tax but a business tax (for want of a better word) and that that is why the owner of the complex is asking for the money. Lots of apartments on the complex are still owned by him and of course rented out by him, so I assume he is liable for a great deal of tax.
Why oh why is it that no-one in Egypt appears to know what they are talking about? You can give the same paper to 5 different lawyers here and get 5 different explanations! Frustrating.


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> I own a practically identical apartment on the same complex as my friend. She rents hers out but I have never done so. I have had no demands made on me at all but she has received this bill from her agent. When she has queried it, he has said that the bill is from the tax office but has also said the owners of the complex are demanding money and threatening legal action. He has broken down the amount into yearly sums and said that if she does not pay her apartment will be repossessed. He says the bill was worked out from 2007 to June 2013 on the size of the apartment (ie one bedroom, two bedroom etc) and that that is the money that is outstanding. He says that they had had 60 days to dispute this amount (one assumes from June 2013) and that opportunity has now expired! He further says that there is a new law in place now (started July 2013) and that that one is based on square meters and the area the apartment is in and that she will have to pay that one too.
> None of the articles I have read about this property tax seem to indicate that the tax goes back to 2007 and I am wondering whether this is not a property tax but a business tax (for want of a better word) and that that is why the owner of the complex is asking for the money. Lots of apartments on the complex are still owned by him and of course rented out by him, so I assume he is liable for a great deal of tax.
> Why oh why is it that no-one in Egypt appears to know what they are talking about? You can give the same paper to 5 different lawyers here and get 5 different explanations! Frustrating.


Absolute nightmare....and that is one of the reasons i never bought property in Egypt also in my opinion the country is far to unstable to invest in.....anyway good luck with trying to sort it all out and if i find out anymore information i will let you know.


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## Eco-Mariner (Jan 26, 2011)

Evertyhing that we witness in Egypt is BOGUS... 
Do not fall for these scams as the situation with laws and decrees are null and void until a new fully functional government is actually in place, with a new Constitution, an honest elected President resides and the Ministry responsible for collecting taxes has a regulatory body watching over them.... What is in place now is not transparant or accountable.

Eco-Mariner


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

The plot thickens - apparently I am told that I too have a tax bill waiting for me in the complex's office. I am told it is nothing to do with rental income just a tax that all home owners (including Egyptians) must pay. Haven't picked it up yet and won't for some time to be honest. I have decided only to pay this bill if it is addressed to me personally, at my exact address and is on authentic government headed notepaper.
Sad that this country makes you feel suspicious of everyone and everything!


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

lewroll said:


> The plot thickens - apparently I am told that I too have a tax bill waiting for me in the complex's office. I am told it is nothing to do with rental income just a tax that all home owners (including Egyptians) must pay. Haven't picked it up yet and won't for some time to be honest. I have decided only to pay this bill if it is addressed to me personally, at my exact address and is on authentic government headed notepaper.
> Sad that this country makes you feel suspicious of everyone and everything!



Welcome to Egypt ..exact address...well that's a difficult one when you live in egypt...only way i could get mail was by getting a PO Box and even then some went missing.


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## Gounie (Jan 27, 2011)

On a forum for where I live they are claiming this article to be correct:

Egypt homeowners to be notified of due property taxes in July - Economy - Business - Ahram Online

_Starting in July, Egyptian property owners will receive a note from the tax authority informing them of the sum they are required to pay in property taxes, Hassan Abbas, head of Egypt's Property Tax Authority, said on Wednesday.

Property owners will have 60 days in which to file an appeal if they believe the requested amount has been overestimated. The government must reply to all appeals within 30 days.

Notes will not be sent to owners of exempted properties. Recent amendments to a 2008 property law exempted single-home owners from the tax, and raised the bracket for taxed properties from those worth LE500,000 to those worth LE2 million.

According to the law, local committees are to be drawn up to estimate properties' rent values, 30 percent of which will be deducted to cover property maintenance expenses. The remaining figure will be taxed at a rate of 10 percent.

The application 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 between LE2 billion and LE3 billion in additional government revenues.

Many villa owners have paid their bills. I haven't received anything for my apartment._


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

Thanks for that Gounie.

The bill that my friend has been told she owes dates back to 2007 and is supposedly what she owes up to June 2013 so this particular information does not relate to it. Still having difficulty finding any information about this tbh.


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## canuck2010 (Jan 13, 2010)

This story was just posted too: Property tax amendments to lessen economic burden on investors: Government official - Daily News Egypt


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## Bob2 (Dec 24, 2012)

canuck2010 said:


> This story was just posted too: Property tax amendments to lessen economic burden on investors: Government official - Daily News Egypt


If I owned a home that cost under EGP 500,000, would I then be exempt from paying taxes even if I rented it out?


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

Bob2 said:


> If I owned a home that cost under EGP 500,000, would I then be exempt from paying taxes even if I rented it out?


If you can work that out, please let me know.


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## Bob2 (Dec 24, 2012)

Surely someone can answer that question.


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## lewroll (Oct 29, 2010)

I live in hope but don't hold my breath. 

The new revised law which apparently hasn't been implemented yet, seems to indicate that one home valued at 2 million le or less is exempt but does not specify whether that is only if you do not rent it out or not. You pays your money and you takes your choice. Of course, the whole law could change again!


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