Friday March 29th, 2024
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Egypt Considers Imposing a 10% Tax on Unrented Apartments

The new tax law would be added to the existing law, which already imposes a 10% tax on apartments bought for more than EGP 2 million.

Staff Writer

The committee of Housing and Urban Utilities has recently suggested imposing a tax on the owners of all empty or unused apartments. Owners will be required to pay 10% of the apartment's rent worth, in the case that they refuse to rent it out or live in it. 

MP and member of the committee of housing, Abdel Karim Zakeya, added that the new tax is still in the process of discussion, and will be presented to Parliament for consideration, during their next meeting.

The representative of the Parliament's housing committee, Khaled Abdel Aziz Fahmy, also added that imposing the 10% tax would help solve the shortage of living spaces within the country, as owners will be forced to either sell or rent out their apartments.

Dr. AbdelRassoul AbdelHady, a member of the Egyptian Society For Taxation, elaborated that Egypt currently has a yearly tax of 10% imposed on those buying apartments worth more than EGP 2 million, whether or not they rent them out. He suggested that the aforementioned tax law be tweaked to include the new taxation system in an effort to encourage owners to rent out their apartments. Dr.AbdelHady clarifies that such laws take at least two years to come into action and predicts the state will amass over 2 billion from the new tax law, if it is imposed.

Main image taken from http://adminsite.estabena.com