Rise in Iranian Departure Tax Next Year

EghtesadOnline: The Iranian government has set next year’s departure tax at 2.64 million rials ($20) for travelers who take their first overseas trip of the year, as per the budget bill of the next fiscal year (March 2020-21), 3.96 million rials ($30) for their second trip and 5.28 million rials ($40) for the third or more trips.

News ID: ۷۸۵۱۱۵

10 December 2019

Last year’s departure tax was set at 2.2 million rials ($16.6) for the first-time travelers, 3.3 million rials ($25) for second-time travelers and 4.4 million rials ($ 33.2) for travelers making a third or more trips.

Notably, last year, the departure tax increased almost threefold compared to the year before.

Departure tax imposed on travelers to Saudi Arabia for hajj pilgrimage will be at 1.32 million rials ($10) next year, according to Financial Tribune.

Latest available statistics provided by the Central Bank of Iran show the government earned 3 trillion rials ($22.64 million) from departure tax in the first four months of the last fiscal year (March 21-July 22, 2018). The figure showed a rise of 177.2% compared with the same period of last year.

Revenues from departure tax, which is a subcategory of tax on goods and services of indirect taxes, were estimated to hover around 2.7 trillion rials ($20.37 million) in the four-month period.

The target set in the budget law for last year's revenues from departure tax was 8 trillion rials ($60.37 million).

There is no report as to how much of the target was realized.

President Hassan Rouhani submitted the budget bill for the upcoming Iranian year (March 2020-21) to the parliament on Sunday—which document, according to him, is indicative of the country’s tenacity and resistance in the face of US sanctions.

The government's operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year indicates an 8% expansion compared with the corresponding figure the current year’s budget.

Yet, it's noteworthy to consider the inflation in Iran. The Statistical Center of Iran's latest report shows the average goods and services CPI in the 12-month period ending Nov. 21 increased by 41.1% compared with last year’s corresponding period.

Having said that, the next year's budget will be contractionary.

In view of budget constraints emerging from the imposition of unilateral US sanctions, the government has sought to reduce its spending while increasing its sources of income.

The rise in departure tax is one of those measures.

An exchange rate of 132,500 rials per dollar (Sunday’s closing market rate) has been used to convert the above figures.