IT projects to benefit
from IDAL’s incentives

Updated list of eligible companies
allows resumption after a three-year halt

Information technology (IT) projects may now benefit from incentives offered by the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL). The incentives include ten-year exemptions from income tax and from taxes on the distribution of dividends on IT projects.

The Council of Ministers has approved a list of the IT activities that may benefit from IDAL’s tax incentives. IDAL halted granting the incentives to IT companies in the last three years because an incorrect IT list was attached to decree number 8709, which was issued in the third quarter of 2012, according to a source at IDAL.

The corrected list of IT activities, attached to the Council of Ministers’ decree 3158 that was issued earlier this month, includes software publishing and computer programming and providers of infrastructure for data processing or for hosting activities such as Web hosting, streaming services, and application hosting. Internet Service Providers may also benefit from IDAL’s incentives, according to the new list.

IDAL also grants incentives to the agro-industry, manufacturing, tourism, agriculture, communication, and media sectors. Local projects worth more than $1.7 billion benefited from IDAL’s incentives in the past 15 years.