-State orders all sales taxes accrued through e-cash be channeled direct to treasury
-Committee formed to execute the directives on the sales taxes
By M.A. Egge
The President of the Republic of Somaliland, H.E. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdilaahi (Cirro), who was flanked by the Vice President H.E. Mohamed Abdi aw Ali on Saturday evening, convened an extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet Members to provide a general briefing on the President’s recent working trip to the United Arab Emirates.
Apart from the briefing of his just concluded visit to the UAE the session saw the directives of channeling all accrued sales tax directly to the treasury.
He formed a five-man team of cabinet ministers to see to it that the resolution on the taxes are executed.
According to a press release by the Spokesman of the Presidency Hussein Adan Ige (Deyr), the President first informed the Cabinet that his delegation discussed with the UAE government how the two countries could cooperate on key issues, in particular:
- How to further strengthen cooperation between the Republic of Somaliland and the United Arab Emirates,
- How to cooperate in the areas of economy, job creation, investment in development projects, investment in agriculture, livestock, education, investment in minerals and oil, cooperation with the Central Bank, further expansion of DP World investment, cooperation on security matters, and other issues of priority beneficial to both countries.
Likewise, the Head of State informed the members of the cabinet that during the 4-day stay in the United Arab Emirates, he and the delegation he led held more than 10 meetings with the highest officials of the United Arab Emirates.
`Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers also held the special session to discuss the situation in the country that saw the extraordinary meeting pass a number of crucial, indispensable and resolute decisions that are essential for the construction and development of the Somaliland nation.
Among the decisions that were voted on by the Council of Ministers with a show of hands were:
- A Council Decision on the Effective Implementation of the Census and the Capacity Building of the Various National Forces. 38 members voted in favor of this decision, with no abstentions or objections.
- The Cabinet voted to implement a Sales Tax that would be collected directly by the Government Treasury on purchases such as:
𝐀) Mobile Money (Merchant Payments) for payment services of all electronic cash systems (Zaad, eDahab, MyCash, Sahal, etc).
𝐁) Purchases made through Mobile Applications of Banks and Wallets (DahabPlus, Waafi, PremierWallet, AmalBank, IBS Bank and similar).
𝐂) Payments for voice and Internet services by telecommunications companies (Telesom, Somtel, Somcable/SO, Soltelco, Gollis, Bluecom and all ISP service providers).
𝐃 ) Bill Payments by Utilities (Utility Bill Payments).
𝐄 ) And all other types of regular and other bill payments.
The President of the Republic of Somaliland has appointed the following members of the Cabinet to implement the Direct Sales Tax on the above services:
𝟏) Minister of Finance and Economic Development.
𝟐) Minister of Communications and Technology,
𝟑) Minister of the Presidency.
𝟒) Minister of Aviation and Airport Development.
𝟓) Minister of Minerals and Energy.