Dubai: The Media, Culture and Monuments Committee of the Egyptian parliament approved the imposition of taxes on foreign social media sites, including Facebook and Google, for advertisements they generate from the Egyptian market.
A senior government official said e-commerce accounts for a significant part of the global economy, and Egypt must benefit from this through the taxes it collects.
In previous years, sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter were exempted from the value added tax (VAT). But now, electronic services are also subject to VAT under the new law.
The official added that difficulty in collecting data had been restricting the volume of financial transactions. However, the situation had changed as international cooperation resulted in the exchange of information in light of agreements preventing double taxation.
The source said tax agreements signed with most countries will force foreign sites to pay for products advertised in Egypt.
In an earlier attempt to apply the articles of VAT, Egypt approved the tax on goods and services in 2016 by 13 per cent, and raised them to 14 per cent in 2017.
