Corporate income tax collection rises in Oman

Muscat: Oman collected almost OMR100 million more in corporate income tax in 2018 than it did in 2017, according to the country’s final accounts report for last year.
The report, which was released in a ministerial decision from the Ministry of Finance yesterday, showed that Oman had collected OMR 463,112,782 in corporate income tax in 2018, compared to 366,487165 in 2017 and 388,634,659 in 2017.
Oman also collected OMR 46,845,173 in municipal rent as well as OMR 58,735,550 in real estate transaction fees, and OMR 15,764,960 in charges for business activity permits, as well as OMR 30,266,309 in fees for hotels and other similar facilities. Oman also made OMR 277,294, 968 in customs tariffs.
The total for Oman’s current revenues from taxes and fees reached OMR 1,263,875,754 in 2018, compared to OMR 1,131,997,326 in 2017.
While commerce contributed to the improvements in Oman’s current revenue stream, the country continued to subsidise businesses and services in 2018.
Oman spent OMR 670 million in subsidies last year. Of this sum, OMR 25.9 million was used for supporting the interest rates of residential and development loans, OMR 476 million went towards electricity subsidies and OMR 4.8 million supported basic foodstuffs subsidies. In addition, OMR 142.8 million went towards operational subsidies for public companies, and OM R20 million to subsidies for oil products. This is compared to OMR 502.9 million in subsidies in 2017.
Oman’s total revenue in 2018 equalled OMR10.949 billion in 2018, while the total expenditure - how much the state has spent during the year - totalled OMR 13.599 billion. This meant that Oman’s deficit totalled OMR 2.649 billion during 2018, a 30 per cent decrease compared to the OMR 3.759 billion deficit in 2017.