Parliament voted on the value-added tax (VAT) draft law for the second day in a row on Monday. Yasser Omar, head of the parliament's Planning and Budget Committee, noted that voting takes place on each of the 74 articles of the bill separately. A prominent member of parliament, who requested to remain anonymous, said that the law will be effective starting early October, following penning the bylaws through September. He added that revenues expected after imposing the law will reach EGP 18bn—a decline of EGP 14bn compared to the revenues targeted with a 14% VAT baseline rate. Parliament yesterday approved a VAT baseline rate of 13%, which would increase to 14% in the next fiscal year. The MP told Daily News Egypt that advertisements have been added to the VAT exemption list, boosting the number of services and goods exempted from the tax to 57. Among these services exempted from the tax are special needs vehicles, medicines, education services, and healthcare services. Advertisement services will still fall under the current 20% tax. Source: Daily News Egypt
