Syria taxes residents on worldwide income and non-residents on Syria-source income only. Syria's tax administration has been significantly affected by prolonged conflict and, more recently, the change in national government following the fall of the Assad regime in late 2024 - this is a genuinely unsettled, actively-evolving area, and current administrative practice should be confirmed directly rather than assumed from pre-2024 sources.
The Syrian tax year is the calendar year.
28% under the legacy Assad-era Income Tax Law (per Trading Economics, current through 2026); a 2025 draft reform proposes replacing this with sector-based flat rates of 10% (priority sectors) and 15% (other activities), expected to phase in during 2026.
22% top rate under the legacy schedular system; the pending 2025/2026 reform proposes a unified income base with a higher exemption threshold (~SYP 60 million/year, about USD 5,200).
No VAT historically; the 2025 reform proposes a new final-point-of-sale sales tax (not a true multi-stage VAT), with elevated rates on specific goods (45% pork products, 84% alcohol).
Individuals are Syrian tax residents if their usual or primary place of residence and center of financial/personal interests is in Syria, or if they are physically present in Syria for 183 days or more (cumulative, not necessarily consecutive) within a tax year.
A non-Syrian entity has a Syria permanent establishment through a fixed place of business or a dependent agent habitually concluding contracts in Syria on the entity's behalf, assessed under Syrian domestic law as currently administered.
Syria has no Controlled Foreign Company regime. This is a clean, specific "No" across the board rather than an inferred absence.
No statutory thin capitalization ratio exists.
Syria does not use an elective check-the-box classification system. Syria does not have a comprehensive ATAD2-style anti-hybrid regime.
No foreign bank account or foreign financial asset reporting regime exists requiring residents to separately disclose foreign accounts; foreign income is reported through the standard annual tax return.
Syria has no participation exemption under the current legacy Income Tax Law - dividends from resident companies are not taxed again on distribution (single-layer taxation at source), but there is no separate exemption mechanism for foreign-sourced dividends or capital gains from foreign subsidiaries. The pending 2025 reform separately proposes exempting dividends distributed by resident companies and certain categories of foreign investor income, but this is not yet in force.
Syria's Income Tax Law does not provide a general unilateral foreign tax credit - relief from double taxation is available only under Syria's limited treaty network (see Treaty Network below), not as a standalone domestic mechanism. This structural position predates the 2024-2025 political transition and reflects the base Income Tax Law framework rather than a genuinely unresolved question; confirm current treatment directly given the pace of broader 2025 tax reform activity.
Syria has approximately 20 tax treaties, per TaxAtlas, though international sanctions have historically limited their practical application. Confirmed named partners include Pakistan (signed 2001, in force 2002) and Russia (per Russia's own current DTT status list); a complete 20-country named list is not fully compiled in available sources and should be confirmed directly with Syria's General Commission for Taxes and Fees given the pace of change since the 2024-2025 political transition.