Tax Authority Chairman Mostafa Abdel Qader said the economic crisis that followed the 25 January revolution caused an increase in late tax dues of LE8.6 billion in the last three years, bringing the total dues to LE84.5 billion by the end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year, including LE77 billion in general taxes and LE7.5 billion in sales taxes.
He said in a statement on Tuesday that the Finance Ministry will start by collecting the undisputed taxes and then consider legislative amendments to overcome the problem of bounced checks.
He also said that the Tax Authority will consider new mechanisms to resolve disputes amicably through conciliation committees and shorten the duration of the litigation in tax issues. “Before that, the internal committees will try to solve disputes without referring them to the courts,” he said. “This will help us collect LE24 billion in late dues compared to LE16 billion collected last fiscal year.”
“The private sector owes us LE58.5 billion of which LE52.5 billion are disputed,” he said, pointing out that the law requires a final bankruptcy court sentence before those taxes are dropped.
He said state press institutions owe the Tax Authority LE10.3 billion, public sector companies owe LE6.7 billion, banks LE1.9 billion, investment companies LE225 million and other government bodies LE44.6 million. “All of them suffer liquidity problems,” he said.
