Manal has 22 years of executive, consulting/advisory, and academic/training experience across all aspects of taxes, mainly VAT implementation and is currently VAT Directorate - VAT Audit and Tax Refund Department - Acting Head of Department.

Manal received her Ph.D. in Law in 2014 from Paris I -Pantheon, Sorbonne (Very honorable distinction with unanimous congratulations from the jury). Her thesis is entitled “Optimization of the tax system in Lebanon”. 

Elected, in 2010, a lifetime member of BETA GAMMA SIGMA (BGS), the International Honor Society for Collegiate Schools of Business, in recognition of her high scholastic achievement during her MBA studies at the American University of Beirut AUB (overall GPA 95%-Ranking first). Her MBA project was about the “Impact of public governance on tax revenues”.

Manal has been a Pioneer member of the VAT Implementation Project Team in Lebanon (2000), and works now as a Head of VAT Audit and Tax Refund Department at the Ministry of Finance (1997 to date). Also a member in Objection Committees at the Lebanese Tax Administration since 2002.

Confirmed, since Mar 2016, as a Trained Assessor by theTax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) Secretariat at the International Monetary Fund (her last in-country mission was in Tunisia for 3 weeks-March2018).

She is an active contributor in preparing the Lebanese Government to sign the Multilateral Convention (MLI) to implement treaty related measures to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), under the OECD/G20 BEPS package.

She is conferred honor by the Lebanese Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), after being ranked First in the “On-the-Job-Promotion Training Session” at the national level.

Manal is a trainer in taxation and strategic planning at the Institute of Finance in Beirut since 2002 and also at the Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants (LACPA). 

She delivered:

•Tens of Lectures about Value Added Tax given to representatives of professional institutions and syndicates.

•Different courses given to new recruits at the Ministry of Finance.

•Different courses given to LACPA candidates in tax laws courses.

She’s a part-time lecturer at Saint-Joseph University (USJ) - Beirut, since Fall 2009, and at American University of Beirut (AUB), since Fall 2016 -in courses related to public finance and taxation.

Manal organized, led and participated in several conferences and seminars, including contributing, as a speaker, at various conferences and workshops in tax related subjects, in Lebanon and abroad (mainly in GCC States). She completed many training sessions and professional missions in Lebanon and abroad, and has a large number of publications in her field of study and expertise

Manal’s career history brief:

•VAT Directorate-VAT Audit and Tax Refund Department-Acting Head of Department (September 2018 to date)

•VAT Directorate -Tax Legislation and Tax Policies Division -Head of Division (Jul 2013 to date)

•VAT Directorate-Taxpayers’ Services Division -Head of Division (Jan 2005 -Jul 2013)

•VAT Directorate -Financial and Administrative Coordination Division -Head of Division (Mar 2002 -Dec 2004)

•Revenues Directorate -VAT Implementation Project Team -Pioneer member of the team of VAT introduction in Lebanon (2000 -2002)