Property owners given 60 days to appeal valuation, taxes

[DJKeefy]

Egypt's property owners given 60 days to appeal valuation, taxes.

Egypt's property owners will be entitled to 60 days of appeal once they receive notifications of their property valuations and the amount of tax due, Finance Minister Hany Qadry Demian said in a statement released on Sunday.

Last week, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified amendments to a property tax law which will go into effect retroactively from July 2013.

The law stipulates that private accommodations with an annual rent value above LE24,000 will be taxed. Also, commercial stores with an annual rent value above LE1,200.

The maximum limit on raising a property's valuation is 30 percent every five years for property used for private accommodation and 45 percent for all other properties.

Property taxes will be collected twice a year in January and in July through local property tax bureaus.

Buildings located on agricultural land – and thus already subjected to agricultural land taxes – will be exempted from property tax so as to avoid double taxation, Tarek Farrag, consultant to the finance minister, said in the statement.

Demian is currently conducting a series of meetings with the relevant ministers to set taxes for commercial, industrial and touristic properties.

Amendments in the property tax law specify that taxes for mines, industrial and touristic buildings, airports and ports should be agreed upon between the finance minister and relevant ministers within three months.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/109132.aspx

[A-Four]

Amendments in the property tax law specify that taxes for mines, industrial and touristic buildings, airports and ports should be agreed upon between the finance minister and relevant ministers within three months.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/109132.aspx

Well yes, that is the general picture, though when it comes to hotels they are except, though I do like, what they call 'touristic buildings', the info released to business world forum is, shall we say, a little ruthless, but then again, the I.M.F., were and still are, over the moon that finally the revenue is on its way in, and the debts are to be paid, a little late yes, but then again, interest rates on the world money markets are still low, thank God.

P.S. - I suppose we could say that with regards to 'touristic buildings', the government has been, shall we say, more economical with the info they are giving to joe public, than they are with the business world, but don't hold your breath, the future news is not good.

[Glyphdoctor]

The part about the agricultural land is interesting. That could affect a lot of people in Luxor. Wonder if they have been paying up?

[Who2]

It was quite a few years ago when the assessors came to asses and if it's anything like the water, electricity and ground rent bills ( I haven't seen any of them for months now ) they will probably be years in arriving at my doorstep....

[Glyphdoctor]

You must be confusing it with property registration when they come out to measure your land and its location. The tax registration consisted of filling out a form with information about your home and its location that they then inputted into a computer and the valuation is supposed to be generated by some sort of computer algorithm.

[Who2]

Did that or my lawyer/liar did that, lied our heads off like every sensible person, it'll be TV licensing next and I don't even have a telly!..la whaala!...

[lotusflower]

that Tax request will be interesting...for those ex-pats who think they own property in Egypt and never receive the request for tax and have the 60 days to appeal!! now realising that they don't own any property at all and nobody will ever chase them for tax..

[LovelyLadyLux]

@Lotusflower - very interesting point. Wonder how many Expats think they own property and will be finding out that after all this time and all their money they actually don't own anything.

[Dusak]

Not this one as I'm 100% positive that I do own what I have. There could be some dark days on the WB though.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@ Dusak - OMG it just occurred to me that if there is ONE property NOT OWNED on the WB it would be

Drip........drip.....drip.......drip.......drip (and the cycle of life would come full circle)

[Glyphdoctor]

Everyone who owned property was supposed to submit a form with the details about that property to the tax authorities 3 or 4 years ago. That is what the valuation will be based on. I'm not sure whether the tax authorities are actually checking though whether the real owners are the same as the ones who submitted the forms (that is if people submitted the forms when they were due), but I would presume those who put their names on the forms will be pursued for the taxes, whether they really own the property or not.

[Dusak]

Everyone who owned property was supposed to submit a form with the details about that property to the tax authorities 3 or 4 years ago. That is what the valuation will be based on. I'm not sure whether the tax authorities are actually checking though whether the real owners are the same as the ones who submitted the forms (that is if people submitted the forms when they were due), but I would presume those who put their names on the forms will be pursued for the taxes, whether they really own the property or not.

The very first instance of this property tax being mentioned I organized several expat friends to come to my home. An official from the council, on his day off for a cost of 100Le per application, filled in all the forms with passport details, court documents appertaining to the individuals property, and submitted them on our behalf. But this must of been closer to five years ago.

[Glyphdoctor]

He made a nice profit on that. If I recall the forms were also available in English for foreigners to be able to fill them out themselves.

[Dusak]

Not in Luxor as this is why we organized it at home. We did go to the office when first hearing about the necessity of filling in the reregistration forms and was told they only had Arabic forms, hence the necessity to go down this path. We all know about the pit falls concerning signing anything in Arabic, especially in regards to property and land. At least we all knew that they had been done correctly. It would of cost far more to get our respective lawyers to do the same job. It is always better to ere on the side of caution.

[carrie]

I have never bought property here always rented, that way I could move if I wanted to also I learnt very early on the complexities of buying here. I do hope though that all those who have bought property find that it is in their name and safe and secure. I would hate to think anyone was going to lose their home and probably their life savings. Good luck to you all.

[DJKeefy]

also I learnt very early on the complexities of buying here.

I find that a bit strange coming from you carrie since you worked in a estate agents office in Luxor for a long time

There is nothing complex about buying property here, if it does seem complex then most likely something is not right.

[Glyphdoctor]

Not in Luxor as this is why we organized it at home. We did go to the office when first hearing about the necessity of filling in the reregistration forms and was told they only had Arabic forms, hence the necessity to go down this path.

The forms were available for download from the tax authority website in both languages. The link may even have been posted here at L4U at the time.

Edit: and they still are http://www.mof.gov.eg/English/Pages/The ... rs%29.aspx

Also, it did not matter where you submitted the form. My husband submitted the form here in Cairo for the house in Luxor.

[Who2]

Well I just sold my 'ol adobe hacienda to 'big-nose for a quid english, and if it turns out he doesn't own I can guarantee 'blood on the streets and it won't be harruf it will be my lawyer..

[carrie]

Well it seemed complex to me Keefy, if you wanted to buy land to build and it was agricultural then you had to have the land re-designated as building land, then you had to get licences for the water, and the electricity make sure that the person selling you the land actually owned it then you had to build. I call all that complex especially if you don't read and write Arabic and have to trust some "honest" Lawyer.

[Dusak]

Not in Luxor as this is why we organized it at home. We did go to the office when first hearing about the necessity of filling in the reregistration forms and was told they only had Arabic forms, hence the necessity to go down this path.

The forms were available for download from the tax authority website in both languages. The link may even have been posted here at L4U at the time.

Edit: and they still are http://www.mof.gov.eg/English/Pages/The ... rs%29.aspx

Also, it did not matter where you submitted the form. My husband submitted the form here in Cairo for the house in Luxor.

The reregistration forms were not available in English. I rang a friend today that came here to have theirs filled in and they said the same, also saying that these forms first appeared six years ago, the time we filled them in. But of course, they could of been telling porkies to us in an attempt to gain from our ignorance. But at the end of the day, it matters not, as these original forms, so I'm told, are now worthless.