VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTU #0149/01 0721502
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131502Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6083
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS TUNIS 000149 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NEA/MAG FOR WILLIAMS/NARDI/HAYES, A/OPR/OS FOR CAMERON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASCH PGOV PREL TS
SUBJECT: TUNIS AMERICAN SCHOOL FACES TAX CRISIS, STATUS 
QUESTIONS 
 
REF: A. TUNIS 0001 
     ¶B. 08 TUNIS 1135 
     ¶C. CIRCULAR 175 
 
¶1.    SUMMARY:  The American Cooperative School of Tunis is 
threatened with an Tunisian tax assessment which could force 
the school to close its doors.  The assessment flies in the 
face of 50 years of past practice and agreements via 
diplomatic note on the school,s status.  A formal bilateral 
accord is essential for the school,s survival now and in the 
future.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.    ACTION REQUEST:  Post thanks Acting DAS (and former 
U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia) Hudson for engaging the Tunisian 
Charg d,affaires in Washington on the ACST tax and status 
issues.  Post requests that the Department seek every 
opportunity, including the upcoming arrival in Washington of 
new Tunisian Ambassador Mansour, to emphasize the USG wish 
for a fair and amicable resolution of the ACST tax question 
and the need for clear bilateral accord to establish the 
school,s status once and for all.  END ACTION REQUEST. 
 
¶3.    The American Cooperative School of Tunis (ACST) began 
quite literally in a basement when a group of parents come 
together to provide English-language education to American 
children in 1959.  A half-century later, ACST has grown to 
become a well-established institution offering an accredited 
Pre-K - grade 12 American education to over 500 students 
including Americans (20%), Tunisians (10%) and 67 other 
nationalities.  As the only English-language school in 
Tunisia, the ACST serves the dependents of many diplomatic 
missions, international organizations and multinational 
companies.  Notably, dependents of employees of the African 
Development Bank make up 40% of the student body. 
 
¶4.    Throughout its history, ACST has operated under the 
auspices of the U.S. Embassy in the eyes of both the Tunisian 
and American governments.  Putting that general understanding 
into practice has sometimes been problematic, however, in the 
absence of any specific bilateral agreement concerning the 
school, unlike its counterpart institutions associated with 
other diplomatic missions.  A 1963 educational and cultural 
accord, often cited by both sides in diplomatic notes and 
other correspondence concerning the school, can be 
interpreted to include the school but is really too vague to 
offer much guidance. 
 
¶5.    A call from a local official responsible for private 
schools led to an October 30 meeting to discuss the school,s 
status with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs (MFA) Protocol, Legal and Americas Desks, the 
Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Ministry of Education.  The 
school was represented by the Director, Business Manager, and 
Board President (Embassy Information Officer) accompanied by 
the DCM.  That meeting underscored the murkiness of the 
school,s status and Tunisian concern for the implications of 
that status on the tax obligations of the school and its 
employees.  The meeting also provided the opportunity for the 
DCM to highlight previous Embassy efforts to resolve this 
issue, including a draft bilateral accord submitted in 2001 
which went unanswered. 
 
¶6.    The MFA meeting ended with the Chief of Protocol 
suggesting a period of reflection before the next of what was 
sure to be many future discussions.  Nevertheless, the next 
day the school received written notice of a pending fiscal 
audit by the Ministry of Finance.  Soon thereafter, 
long-standing armed Tunisian police security details and 
rush-hour traffic police support at the school were 
discontinued without explanation.  In response the school 
increased its private guard presence as much as contractual 
constraints would allow.  The school attempted to postpone 
the audit until such time as the school,s status was 
resolved, but the audit eventually went ahead beginning 
November 24. 
 
¶7.    In the meantime, in consultation with the Office of 
Overseas Schools and the Bureau of Legal Affairs, the Embassy 
dusted off the 2001 draft bilateral accord and submitted an 
updated and newly-cleared version to the MFA on November 26. 
The Ambassador and other Embassy officials also began to 
reach out to Tunisian officials and other diplomatic missions 
to encourage the Government of Tunisia (GOT) to resolve the 
school,s status questions quickly and amicably. 
 
¶8.    The school received the shocking report of the MOF 
fiscal audit on December 26.  The fiscal audit through the 
2007 fiscal year determined that the school owed, including 
penalties, almost US$7 million, or approximately one year,s 
gross revenue.  About half of this total, or US$3.5 million, 
 
was claimed for withholding taxes from the salaries of 
overseas-hired (foreign) employees, despite that fact that a 
specific exoneration from such taxes was referenced in a 1984 
diplomatic note.  Another approximately US$1 million was 
claimed for VAT exemptions duly approved by the MFA via the 
Embassy for the American school (and so marked) in line with 
50 years of past practice.  The school readily admits to some 
errors and oversights in its withholding from local employee 
salaries, failure to charge VAT on cafeteria and bus 
services, and some other taxes totaling approximately US$1 
million.  However, ACST and the Embassy strongly contest the 
majority of the audit,s findings as a retroactive reversal 
of the privileges 
 accorded to the school by the GOT for almost 50 years. 
 
¶9.    While the school pursued an appeals process in 
consultation with its legal and financial advisors, the 
Embassy ratcheted up efforts to engage the Tunisian 
authorities on the issue, including the Ambassador raising 
the police issue with the MFA Chief of Staff on December 30 
and by phone with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on January 
¶18.  The Ambassador briefed the President of the African 
Development Bank on February 6 and the German, British, 
French and Canadian ambassadors on February 11.  The ADB 
President was especially concerned given the school,s 
critical importance to his institution and he has gone on to 
raise the issue himself at the highest levels.   The DCM has 
also raised the issue on multiple occasions with the MFA 
Chief of Staff and Chief of Protocol.  The issue was again 
raised via diplomatic note on February 12 and by the 
Ambassador in a personal meeting with the Foreign Minister on 
February 18, all without apparent progress. 
 
¶10.   By February 27 it appeared that the school,s appeals 
process was reaching a point of no return at which the 
issuance of a final decree of taxation would relegate the 
issue to a subsequent court battle.  At the school,s 
request, the Ambassador wrote a letter to the Minister of 
Finance asking that the final decree be postponed to allow 
the parties more time to reach an amicable settlement, which 
resulted in a March 3 meeting between the Minister of Finance 
and the Ambassador.  At that meeting, the Minister restated 
the MOF position that, in effect, in the absence of a 
bilateral agreement the school should be treated and taxed as 
any other private school in Tunisia.  The Ambassador 
emphasized the status accorded to the school by the GOT over 
50 year of practice and exchanges of diplomatic notes, the 
school,s unique educational, cultural and economic role in 
Tunisia and the clear need for a bilateral accord to resolve 
these issues once and for all.  The Minister agreed to 
postpone the final decree and offe 
red for a delegation from the school to meet directly with 
the Director General of Fiscal Controls to come to an 
agreement. 
 
¶11.   At the subsequent March 10 meeting between a delegation 
from the school and the Director General of Fiscal Controls, 
it became obvious that the tax issue cannot easily be 
resolved without a clear determination of the school,s 
status.  In the absence of clarification from the MFA or a 
specific bilateral accord, the MOF is attempting to fit ACST 
into its existing tax categories, which do not take into 
account the language of diplomatic notes or 50 years of past 
practice.  The school, for its part, seeks a comprehensive 
settlement that will serve to clarify its past, present and 
future status.  Both parties agreed that it will be difficult 
to reach a solution without further guidance, but the MOF 
noted that the final taxation decree cannot be postponed 
indefinitely. 
 
¶12.   COMMENT:  The Embassy is about to send a diplomatic 
note formally requesting discussions to resolve the questions 
of the school,s status and finalize the bilateral accord. 
In the meantime, the potential US$7.5 taxation decree 
continues to hang in the air, a decree which, if implemented, 
could seriously impact the financial health of the school or 
even force it to close its doors.  Bankruptcy would be a sad 
and ironic way to mark the American Cooperative School of 
Tunis,s upcoming 50th anniversary since opening its doors in 
¶1959.  Such an outcome would not only be a blow to the U.S. 
mission but to the greater American and international 
communities in Tunisia as well.  END COMMENT. 
Godec