The Head of the Pre-Monitoring Unit at the Egyptian Tax Authority, Mohamed Sorour, announced that recent discussions regarding the “departure fee” will not involve imposing any new taxes on citizens or travelers.
During a phone interview with Al-Mehwar TV on Monday, Sorour explained that this simply involves clarifying the mechanism for implementing an existing legal provision within the State Financial Resources Development Fee Law.
Sorour said that the departure fee is fixed at LE100 and has not been modified in any way, either in its value or its legal nature.
He emphasized that what has been circulating regarding increases or new fees is inaccurate.
The departure fee is collected from all travelers upon leaving Egyptian territory, whether they are citizens or foreigners, he explained.
Sorour pointed out that this recent controversy stemmed from confusion between the base value of the departure fee and certain facilitations or reductions that were applied previously, which were part of regulatory measures linked to specific objectives, particularly supporting the tourism sector.
The previous system included a reduction in the departure fee to LE50 in certain cases related to tourism and stimulating tourism in several governorates, he noted, with the aim of encouraging tourist groups to visit specific areas within Egypt.
Implementing this discount faced numerous practical challenges, Sorour explained, such as verifying whether tourists actually benefited from it in addition to complexities related to proving travel itineraries.
This led to discrepancies in its application between relevant authorities and tourism companies.
These issues were the primary reason behind reorganizing the implementation mechanism, he said, assuring that the aim was not to impose any new financial burdens on citizens or travelers.
Sorour said that the current amendment reinstates the fundamental legal principle stipulating a uniform fee of LE 100 for all departures from the country, without exceptions or discounts that are difficult to implement in practice.
