18/07/2023

The Director General of the Income and Sales Tax Department, Hussam Abu Ali, confirmed that Jordan follows the best tax system in the world, which balances between direct and indirect taxes, stressing that there are only five types of taxes in Jordan and not as is rumored. There is an income tax law, a sales tax law, a customs law, a law for the sale of the property and a law for the tax of buildings and properties, and there is no tax other than these taxes.

He added, in an prolonged dialogue with "Al-Dustour", in which he talked about the tax policy, pointing out that the tax system is one of the tools of the financial policy that the government uses to achieve its economic goals, and that the Jordanian legislator aims at three main objectives of tax legislation, financial, economic and social, as he emphasized that All taxes collected are returned to the treasury, and there is no tax penny goes to private funds, just as there is no exemption from tax except by virtue of legislation, as taxes are imposed by law and exemption may not be made except by a law.

In the details, Abu Ali said that there are tax incentives in the investment environment law that encourage investment in free and development zones and the Aqaba Special zone. He said that our tax system in Jordan is capable of meeting all the requirements necessary to achieve the targeted economic vision. The Director General of Income and Sales Tax, in his dialogue with “Al-Dustour,” affirmed that all basic commodities consumed by citizens are completely exempt from taxes, and that more than 300 commodities or services are either subject to a zero rate, an exemption, or a reduced tax, and that everything related to the agricultural sector in terms of services and agricultural products Agricultural pesticides, fertilizers, and products of all agriculture produced by farmers are exempt from taxes, in addition to exemptions and benefits for all renewable energy inputs.

As for the targeted tax revenues in the country’s General Budget Law 2023, Abu Ali stressed that it will be achieved exactly as we did in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019. - The dialogue included details about addressing the tax distortions that were made through the application of the “transfer pricing” regulation , the adoption of the “fair value”. , the “income tax regulation in the development zones”... , "unifying tax administration”... and introducing “the supply base instead of the sale base in the sales tax law”... The Director General of the Income and Sales Tax Department confirmed that the department seeks to reduce the rate of tax evasion and avoidance to less than 10%, indicating that the most important program in 2023 is to enhance voluntary compliance with the tax, noting that 56 tax services are now provided electronically, and that more than 100,000 tax returns have been submitted within four months. All submitted electronically. Following are the highlighted headers of the comprehensive dialogue of “Al-Dustour” with the Director General of Income and Sales Tax, Hussam Abu Ali, in the presence of the Advisor to the Director General of the Income and Sales Tax Department, Musa Tarawneh:

Everything related to agriculture sector from agricultural services and products are exempted from taxes

• Exemptions and benefits for all renewable energy inputs
• Tax incentives in the investment environment law encourage investment in free and development zones and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone.
• Our tax system in Jordan is able to meet all the requirements necessary to achieve the targeted economic vision
• The target numbers in the country’s General Budget Law 2023 will be achieved, as we did in 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
• All the reforms adopted by the government were on the basis of not imposing any tax or increasing any tax.

More than 300 goods or services are either subject to zero-rate, exemption or reduced tax 56 tax services provided electronically and more than 400 thousand tax returns within four months, all submitted electronically There are only 5 types of taxes in Jordan, and there is no longer a “tax on tax” The fair value.. The transfer prices.. and the income tax regulation in the development zones deals with tax distortions that have generated tens of millions of treasury revenues

• Continuous efforts to reduce the rate of tax evasion and avoidance to less than 10%.
• Our most important program in 2023 is to enhance voluntary tax compliance.
• We moved from the tax audit process to electronic auditing and artificial intelligence.
• The electronic billing system is to achieve justice and does not target any Association or any sector.
• As of the beginning of the month of May, the regulation for regulating invoicing affairs has adopted the invoice issued by the national electronic invoicing system.
• Jordan is the first Arab country to apply electronic digital control of smoke production.
•  Within five months, the collections of the land department increased, the volume of real estate value trading increased, and an electronic service center was opened.