Overview: The Damascus Countryside Chamber of Industry, chaired by Eng. Mohammad Ayman Al-Mawlawi, hosted an extensive dialogue with the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohammad Yasser Bareneh, to launch a "New Tax Era" built on mutual trust, transparency, and strategic partnership.
Key Highlights & The Ministry's Vision:
From Collection to Partnership: The Ministry's current philosophy shifts from mere tax collection to supporting businesses, aiming for the most competitive and fair tax system in the region.
Facilities vs. Evasion: Compliant taxpayers will receive preferential advantages, while tax evasion will face zero tolerance.
Prioritizing Production: The state aims to help small workshops grow into large factories to boost production and exports.
Voluntary Self-Disclosure: A flexible mechanism was introduced to settle industrialists' tax obligations for 2025 and prior through voluntary profit disclosure.
Industrialists' Main Demands & Concerns:
Level Playing Field: Ensuring new investor incentives do not unfairly disadvantage long-standing existing facilities.
Exemptions & Expenses: Including self-rehabilitated damaged factories in exemptions, and recognizing undocumented maintenance and charitable expenses.
Currency Gap: Addressing the variance between official Syrian Pound statements and actual foreign currency transactions without penalizing businesses.
The "Cash" Crisis: Solving the issue of merchants refusing formal invoicing and insisting on cash-only transactions.
Legal Inquiries: Clarifying real estate sales tax regarding partners' personal lands previously given as in-kind contributions to the company
15/7/2026
