Automated tax procedures system to be finalized on all tax offices in 2022

CAIRO – 3 January 2021: The automated unified tax system will be finalized on the rest of the tax offices throughout the republic in 4 stages before the end of 2022, according to Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait.

Maait stated in a statement Sunday that the four stages include: "Greater Cairo, Alexandria and West Delta, East Delta, the Canal and Sinai, then Upper Egypt."

He indicated that the project for the automation of the main tax procedures was launched in December 2019, and the most important of these procedures have already been completed, namely: “registration, electronic declarations and payments”, provided that the rest of the procedures will be automated in succession until next July.

The minister added that the electronic means, including the electronic signature system, have become, in accordance with the Unified Tax Procedures Law, approved for tax proof, communication with taxpayers and taxpayers, procedures for assessing and collecting tax, and ways of challenging tax assessment forms.

"Requiring the financiers or those charged with dealing with electronic documents, whether an electronic invoice in the form of an electronic professional receipt or an electronic sales receipt for the final consumer, in light of the digitization of all transactions, starting with the submission of the registration application with the tax authority, the electronic tax declaration, electronic records, books and correspondence, all the way to electronic tax collection," he added.

The minister pointed out that the preparation for the system of automated unified tax procedures began in February 2018 by re-engineering the tax procedures and processes for income taxes and value added taxes, leading to the issuance of the Unified Tax Procedures Law in October 2020, which provides legislative cover for electronic transactions and gives them legal authority.

He stressed that implementing the new digital system is part of a comprehensive development process for the Egyptian Tax Authority, which includes in its vision the development and simplification of procedures, raising the efficiency of the human element, modernizing the work environment, raising the efficiency of the information infrastructure and networks through the use of the latest devices and equipment, and restructuring the tax authority.

Maait explained that registered letters with acknowledgment of receipt were sent to all the financiers in the three centers, including "activation codes" of the new system, with a clear explanation of the registration method on the new system, and a copy of these codes can be received through the "front offices" service.

He stressed that Egypt is one of the first countries in the Middle East and Africa to implement the electronic invoice system, whose first mandatory phase was launched in mid-November 2020, extending its umbrella to 134 companies.