Ministry of Finance Decree 780 regarding VAT Refund Process Acceleration Request

The above-mentioned Decree has been issued to emphasize on VAT refund process acceleration in order to facilitate the payments for the companies either who still need to complete their documents, or in case tax authority has not finished its reviews under the following conditions:

1.The company must submit refund request letter attached with following documents:

• Letter of guarantee with an amount of 65% from the VAT refund balance that is applicable for liquidation and renewable and not available for cancelation as a guarantee for payment.
• All the supporting documents for the paid Tax (Local tax invoice, tax clearance and payments receipts) in addition to customs form no.13, and the company should submit all the remining documents within the following three months of submitting the refund request letter. Also, the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) will finalize the review of the submitted documents and complete the refund process within the following six months of submitting all the required documents as maximum.
• Signed Certificate by certified charted accountant registered in the Official Accountants and Auditors Register that confirms the company right of refund the VAT credit balance.

2. The company who have the right to refund the VAT credit should be keeping all the financial books and registers.

3. The company should not have been in a tax evasion with final official decision.

4. The mentioned decree does not include VAT refund on purchased capitalized assets.

5. The Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) should release 65% of the VAT credit balance no more than 15 days from submitting the refund request letter attached with all the requirements.

6. The Egyptian Tax authority should finalize all the procedures and issue the final memorandum in order to pay the remining VAT Credit balance to the company within the following nine months of submitting the request. In case the company will not be able to submit all the requested documents for the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) within the period mentioned above, then the ETA may either ask for renewal of the Letter of guarantee or liquidate it.

7. The Egyptian Tax authority (ETA) should return the Letter of guarantee to the company within the following 15 days of issuing the final memorandum, in case the company have the right to refund the VAT credit.

Responsibility and Commitment:

Andersen Tax & Legal Egypt’s tax team has prepared this summarized report to illustrate the application of VAT refund based on recent official decree issued by The Egyptian Ministry of Finance. Efforts have been combined to produce this report with clear and accurate content however this report aims only to spread general information and should not be treated as a legal document or a document that can be used for decision making, or for issuing specialized consultations. Please contact Andersen Tax & Legal Egypt for tailor made solutions.