Finance and Budget Committees Reject Five Amendment Proposals for 2026 Budget Law
The Finance and Budget Committees of the People's Representatives Assembly (ARP) and the National Council of Regions and Districts (CNRD) have rejected five amendment proposals presented by deputies as part of the 2026 budget law project.
Rejected Amendments
According to the report of the Finance and Budget Committees of the ARP and CNRD on the 2026 Budget Law, published on the ARP's website, the first rejected amendment concerned the revision of the ceiling for real estate acquisitions for housing purposes. It proposed to increase the ceiling from 400,000 to 500,000 dinars for housing acquired from real estate developers and subject to a reduced VAT rate of 7%.
During the November 25 session, the representative of the Ministry of Finance opposed this proposal, citing the need to preserve the stability of the tax system and equity among taxpayers. He also emphasized that such a measure would lead to a decrease in public resources and exceed the framework established when the current system was introduced, which has only been in effect for one year.
The second rejected amendment suggested reducing the advance payment on imports from 10% to 5% for individuals and businesses that have regularized their tax situation. The goal was to support liquidity and alleviate the financial burden on economic operators.
The representative of the Ministry of Finance recalled that the current 10% rate applies mainly to imported consumer products and constitutes an advance on taxes, which can be deducted or recovered during tax regularization, and not a definitive charge. He warned that reducing this rate would have a direct and significant impact on state resources, as the advance on imports is one of the essential levers for mobilizing the necessary tax revenues for public finance balance.
Other Rejected Proposals
Some deputies recommended adding an article to establish an electronic platform for employer declarations and to extend the deadline for submitting these declarations to September 30 of each year, instead of the current April 30. This proposal did not reach a consensus.
The representative of the Ministry of Finance recalled that the legal deadline for employer declarations was initially set at February 25, before being extended to April 30 to alleviate the pressure related to corporate tax declarations.
According to him, this deadline is sufficient and does not require further extension. He specified that the "Tej" platform will replace employer declarations and facilitate procedures without modifying the existing deadlines.
The fourth rejected amendment concerned support for exporting companies. It proposed to abolish Article 52 of the 2022 Finance Law, which had ended the mechanism for suspending VAT for international trade companies and totally exporting companies, and to reinstate this mechanism, considered a tool to reduce financial pressure when acquiring goods and services.
The representative of the Ministry of Finance emphasized that, when the 2022 provisions were adopted, the concerned companies benefited from a 100% coverage rate by the General Directorate of Taxes, which allowed for mastering recovery deadlines without harming the companies' rights.
Finally, the fifth rejected amendment aimed to exempt or reduce penalties related to foreign exchange. This proposal sparked a wide debate, but the Ministry of Finance firmly opposed it. He recalled that such a measure contradicts the 2015 law on combating money laundering, as most foreign exchange offenses are closely related to this type of crime. He also warned against the risk of Tunisia being re-listed on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which would harm the country's financial and banking reputation internationally, in addition to reducing its foreign exchange reserves.
He indicated that the structural solution lies in the project of the "new Exchange Code", which will comprehensively frame the capital movements of residents and non-residents, and will be submitted to Parliament soon.
Conclusion
After adding the adopted amendments and removing the rejected ones, the two committees finalized the definitive version of the 2026 budget law project, which now comprises 61 articles, compared to 57 in the initial version. The articles have been renumbered according to the modifications made, in accordance with Annex 2 of the report.
