Syria

Taxation of Foreign Firms

Resident foreign firms are taxed as has been outlined above. Non-resident firms are charged a withholding tax. Foreign firms are considered resident if they have concluded more than one supply or service contract in the course of one year, of if they have concluded a contract which has taken one year or more to execute. Income tax is also chargeable if foreign firms. ‏

1- Maintain a local branch office ‏

2- Have registered with the Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade ‏

3- Are party to a civil works contract ‏

4- Have assigned part of their activities under a sub-contract to another firm ‏

5- Carry out their business at the office of another company ‏

6-Undertake certain administrative steps such as thehiring of employees, rental of premises and registration of a PO Box. ‏

This tax also applies to the royalty income of foreign trade-mark holders form production under license in Syria.‏

Taxation consists of

7- A non-resident income tax levied at 17% off 75% ofthe contract value or profits realized ‏

8- Local administrative tax (5-10%) ‏

9- War Effort Tax surcharge at 30% of the income tax ‏

For the purpose of tax assessments, the value of the income in foreign currency is converted into Syrian products at the NCR rate.‏