MUSCAT: The Economic Committee of Oman’s State Council has rejected a plan to levy a tax on the remittances sent by foreign workers to their home countries, official said here the other day.
In November 2014 the Middle Eastern country’s Shura Council suggested that the government tax remittances at the rate of two percent as a way of easing growing pressure on the state budget.
However, Salim bin Said Al Ghatami, the head of the Economic Committee, told the Customs Today that “it is not the right time to impose a tax just on working expatriates.” He said that the proposed tax needs to be examined by expert committees before it can be adopted.
The official explained that the proposed tax would violate the terms of certain international agreements that Oman is party to and would affect investment prospects in the country.
Oman has about 1.5m expatriate workers, most of whom come from south and Southeast Asia. Based on the OMR3.1bn (USD8bn) which expatriates sent abroad as remittances in 2012, the proposed tax would generate about OMR62m in annual tax revenue.
