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🇪🇬 Egypt /Economy & Trade

Egyptian Tax Authority denies departure fee increases

From Egypt Independent · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Sources not specified New plan
  • Egypt's Tax Authority denies any increases to the fixed 100 Egyptian pound departure fee.
  • The fee remains unchanged in value and legal nature, with no new taxes imposed on travelers.
  • Recent confusion stemmed from the discontinuation of previous temporary reductions aimed at supporting tourism, leading to the reinstatement of the uniform fee.

The Egyptian Tax Authority has clarified that there will be no new increases or taxes imposed on the existing departure fee, aiming to quell recent speculation. Mohamed Sorour, Head of the Pre-Monitoring Unit at the authority, announced that discussions surrounding the "departure fee" do not involve introducing new financial burdens on citizens or travelers.

what has been circulating regarding increases or new fees is inaccurate.

— Mohamed SorourHead of the Pre-Monitoring Unit at the Egyptian Tax Authority, clarifying the departure fee.

Sorour explained during a TV interview that the current process is focused on clarifying the implementation mechanism for a provision already within the State Financial Resources Development Fee Law. He stressed that the departure fee is fixed at 100 Egyptian pounds (LE100) and has not been altered in value or legal status. Reports of increases or new fees are inaccurate, he stated.

The departure fee is collected from all travelers upon leaving Egyptian territory, whether they are citizens or foreigners.

— Mohamed SorourExplaining the scope of the departure fee.

The departure fee applies to all individuals leaving Egyptian territory, regardless of whether they are citizens or foreigners. Sorour noted that the recent controversy arose from a misunderstanding between the standard fee amount and previously applied facilitations or reductions. These temporary measures were designed to support the tourism sector and encourage group travel to specific regions.

This led to discrepancies in its application between relevant authorities and tourism companies.

— Mohamed SorourDescribing the challenges with previous departure fee reductions.

He elaborated that implementing these previous discounts faced practical challenges, including verifying tourist compliance and complexities in proving travel itineraries. These issues caused application discrepancies among authorities and tourism companies. Consequently, the implementation mechanism has been reorganized to reinstate the fundamental legal principle of a uniform LE100 fee for all departures, eliminating exceptions or discounts that proved difficult to manage.

the aim was not to impose any new financial burdens on citizens or travelers.

— Mohamed SorourStating the objective behind reorganizing the departure fee implementation.
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Originally published by Egypt Independent in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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