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Real Estate: Egyptian property tax reforms

A group of professors from Ulster University in the United Kingdom is assessing possible reforms to Egypt’s present system for taxing property. The purpose of the research is to find ways to value property and then assess how the tax can best be billed and collected.

The pilot study has been commissioned by Egypt’s ministry of finance and is being carried out in conjunction with management consultants Booz and Co.

The project is looking at about 250,000 properties in two Cairo suburbs but it may be rolled out across the whole country if successful.

The focus is on commercial and high-value properties and the report is expected to recommend that residential properties below a certain value be exempt from the scheme.

Ascertaining the value of properties is one of the problems in a city where many are not registered accurately.

The team of six, which includes experts in law, surveying and administration, has already carried out property tax projects in other African countries, as well as in eastern Europe. One of its members, Professor William McCluskey, is expecting to return to Tanzania later this year to assess how recommendations he made there almost a decade ago have been implemented.

The Egyptian ministry of finance now provides real estate property tax declarations in English on its website www.mof.gov.eg/English/

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