Tunisia Unites On Tax Policy

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

29 June 2010

A recent ministerial council meeting overseen by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been held to monitor the implementation of the five-year presidential programme focusing on 'an efficient financial policy and fair taxation.'

After carefully reviewing the results of the structural reform measures introduced in a bid to revitalize the system of taxation in Tunisia, encompassing all tax regimes, and including a reduction of tax rates and a strengthening of the role of taxation in encouraging investment, the Council then examined ways to realize the measures contained in the presidential programme.

The Council united on the following tax measures:

• Continuing the approach adopted in terms of customs levies and reducing the number of existing rates;
• Establishing a programme to identify measures designed to reduce the fiscal burden on productive businesses in respect of profits and cost factors;
• Reducing the tax base for small- and medium-sized companies during the first three years of activity;
• Extending the 20% income tax reduction scheme for certain SMEs, which currently expires in December 2011;
• Granting specific benefits to direct exports;
• Regrouping all tax laws under one single code to facilitate their use;
• Creating the role of “tax ombudsman” (médiateur fiscal) responsible for examining individual requests from taxpayers;
• Creating a remote tax information centre to support individuals over the telephone in the first instance, and then over the Internet;
• Improving the electronic tax programme by increasing the number of companies using the Internet to carry out online tax declarations and payments; and
• Ensuring that all individuals are able to submit a remote tax declaration by the end of 2014.
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