Taxes on salaries in Egypt 2026

How is salary tax worked out in Egypt in 2026?

Tax is worked out on annual income and then divided by 12. Start with everything you receive in the year: pay, incentives, allowances and bonuses. Deduct your social insurance contribution, which Article 13 of the Income Tax Law exempts, then deduct the 20,000 pound personal exemption. What is left is your net income, rounded down to the nearest 10 pounds.

Then the bands apply: nothing on the first 40,000 pounds, 10% from 40,000 to 55,000, 15% up to 70,000, 20% up to 200,000, 22.5% up to 400,000 and 25% above that. This is the full table for anyone whose net income is no more than 600,000 pounds a year.

Example: a salary of 10,000 pounds a month is 120,000 a year. Social insurance is 13,200, so net income is 120,000 minus 13,200 minus 20,000 = 86,800 pounds. Tax is 1,500 in the 10% band, 2,250 in the 15% band and 3,360 in the 20% band: 7,110 pounds a year, or about 593 pounds a month.

What happens to incomes above 600,000 pounds a year?

This is where most calculators go wrong. Article 8 of the law, as amended by Law 7 of 2024, does not give everyone the lower bands. The higher your annual net income, the more bands drop off the bottom of the table.

If net income is above 600,000 and up to 700,000 pounds, the zero band goes: the first 55,000 pounds are taxed at 10% and the bands carry on as usual. Above 700,000 and up to 800,000, the calculation starts at 15% on the first 70,000. Above 800,000 and up to 900,000, it starts at 20% on the first 200,000. Above 900,000 and up to 1,200,000, it starts at 22.5% on the first 400,000, then 25%. Above 1,200,000, the first 1,200,000 pounds are taxed at 25% and the rest at 27.5%.

In practice, going from 600,000 to 600,010 pounds of net income raises the tax by about 4,000 pounds in one step. So right at these thresholds, a small raise can leave you with less take-home pay than before. The calculator applies this rule exactly as the law states it.

What is the social insurance rate and the 2026 insurable pay cap?

Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019 sets the employee's share at 11% of insurable pay: 9% for old age, disability and death insurance, 1% for sickness insurance and 1% for the end-of-service scheme. A private-sector employer pays 18.75%: 12% for old age, disability and death, 3.25% for sickness, at least 1.5% for work injury, 1% for unemployment and 1% for the end-of-service scheme.

The National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) raised the minimum insurable pay from 2,300 to 2,700 pounds a month and the maximum from 14,500 to 16,700 pounds a month, from 1 January 2026. So the most an employee pays in social insurance in 2026 is 11% of 16,700 = 1,837 pounds a month, however high the salary.

Insurable pay includes basic pay, incentives, commissions, grants and raises, but leaves out some allowances, such as transport and travel allowances, and housing, clothing and car allowances paid in place of benefits in kind.

What is new for salaries in 2026?

The confirmed change in 2026 is the higher insurable pay limits from 1 January: a minimum of 2,700 pounds and a maximum of 16,700 pounds a month. With it, the maximum pension rose to 13,360 pounds and the minimum to 1,755 pounds for people retiring from January 2026, according to NOSI.

Salary tax bands and the personal exemption are as set by Law 7 of 2024, which has applied to salaries since 1 March 2024. As of our review date we found no later amendment to Articles 8 and 13/1.

Note too that the social insurance law raises contribution rates by 1% every seven years from the date it took effect, split equally between employer and insured worker. The law took effect in 2020, so this increase does not fall in 2026.

What is the Martyrs' Fund deduction?

Law 4 of 2021, which amended Law 16 of 2018 setting up the Fund for Honouring Martyrs, Victims, the Missing and the Injured, introduced a monthly deduction of 5 for every 10,000 of employees' pay, or 0.05%.

It applies to staff of public bodies, the public sector and the public business sector, and to employees of private companies covered by the Labour Law. Casual and daily workers are exempt. The amount is small: 5 pounds a month on a salary of 10,000 pounds.

Do Egyptians working abroad pay income tax in Egypt?

Article 9 of the Income Tax Law charges salary tax on pay for work in Egypt, or abroad if the payment comes from Egypt, and on pay from a foreign source for work done in Egypt. Article 3 treats income borne by an employer resident in Egypt as Egyptian-source income even if the work was done abroad.

So a salary paid by a foreign employer for work you do outside Egypt falls outside Egyptian salary tax. Anyone working abroad for an Egyptian entity, or paid from the Egyptian treasury, is taxed, and under Article 2 an Egyptian working abroad and paid from the Egyptian treasury counts as resident.

For social insurance, Law 148 of 2019 lets Egyptians working abroad contribute voluntarily at 21% of an insurable income they choose from the table in the executive regulations.

How are freelance work and income from a second payer treated?

Amounts a resident receives from someone other than their main employer, such as a lecture fee or a side job for another organisation, are taxed at a flat 10% with no deductions under Article 11, withheld by whoever pays.

Self-employed professionals and businesses are taxed on net profit using the same bands and file an annual return. Small businesses can use simplified tax regimes with separate rules that this calculator does not cover.

Is there end-of-service pay in Egypt?

Egyptian law does not have employers pay a formula-based end-of-service gratuity to insured workers, as Gulf countries do. Instead, Law 148 of 2019 created an end-of-service scheme: 1% of insurable pay from the employee and 1% from the employer go into a personal account in the worker's name, and the balance plus investment returns is paid out when service ends, on the terms set by the law.

Pensions and end-of-service pay are not subject to income tax under Article 12 of Law 91 of 2005.

Practical tips for reading your payslip

Check that social insurance is charged on your actual insurable pay and not a lower figure, because insurable pay is the basis of your future pension. If your salary is above 16,700 pounds, the social insurance deduction will not go above 1,837 pounds a month.

Work out tax for the year, not month by month, if you get bonuses or an annual profit share. They are added to the year's income and can push you into a higher band, or above the 600,000 pound threshold where you lose some of the lower bands.

This calculator assumes a private-sector employee, resident all year, with no other income, in a governorate where the Universal Health Insurance scheme has not yet started. For special cases, ask the Egyptian Tax Authority or an accountant.

What changed in 2026?

• Minimum insurable pay rose from 2,300 to 2,700 EGP a month from 1 January 2026 (National Organization for Social Insurance, under Law 148 of 2019 and its executive regulations).
• Maximum insurable pay rose from 14,500 to 16,700 EGP a month from 1 January 2026, so the most an employee pays in social insurance is now 1,837 EGP a month.
• The maximum pension rose to 13,360 EGP and the minimum to 1,755 EGP for people retiring from January 2026 (National Organization for Social Insurance).
• Salary tax bands and the 20,000 EGP personal exemption stay as set by Law 7 of 2024; we found no change to them as of 2 October 2026.

For expats

If you are an Egyptian working in the Gulf or Europe for a foreign employer, your pay for work done outside Egypt falls outside Egyptian salary tax under Articles 3 and 9 of the Income Tax Law. If an Egyptian entity bears your pay, it is taxed in Egypt. Money you send home to family is not income subject to salary tax. You can keep your pension rights by contributing voluntarily to social insurance at 21% of an insurable income you choose. Egypt has double tax treaties with a number of Arab and other countries, and each treaty sets out which country taxes the income.

Income tax rates

The table shown is the full schedule for someone whose annual net income does not exceed 600,000 pounds, plus the 27.5% band for income above 1,200,000 pounds. Net income here is the annual wage after the employee social insurance share and the personal exemption of 20,000 pounds are deducted, rounded down to the nearest 10 pounds. Under Article 8 as amended by Law 7 of 2024, higher earners gradually lose the lower bands: above 600,000 pounds the zero band disappears and the calculation starts at 10% on the first 55,000 pounds; above 700,000 it starts at 15% on the first 70,000; above 800,000 it starts at 20% on the first 200,000; above 900,000 it starts at 22.5% on the first 400,000; and above 1,200,000 the first 1,200,000 pounds is taxed at 25% and the rest at 27.5%.

Other taxes that matter in Egypt

Capital gains

Since 29 July 2026, gains on selling shares and securities listed on the Egyptian Exchange are exempt from income tax under Law 151 of 2026. In their place is a stamp duty of 0.5 per thousand (0.05%) on both buyer and seller, and 0.25 per thousand for each side on same-day buy and sell trades (Law 153 of 2026). Unpaid capital gains tax on listed shares since 16 June 2023 has been waived. Gains on selling unlisted stakes and securities are still taxed as income at the normal personal bands up to 27.5% (some secondary summaries still quote the old 10% rate on listed shares). Sales of built property and building land (outside villages) are taxed at 2.5% of the gross sale value with no deductions, payable within 60 days.

Dividends

Dividends a resident individual receives from an Egyptian source are taxed at 10% with no deduction for costs, falling to 5% if the shares are listed on the Egyptian Exchange. The paying company withholds the tax at source (Article 46 bis 2 of the Income Tax Law).

Crypto

Article 206 of Central Bank and Banking Sector Law No. 194 of 2020 bans issuing, trading or promoting cryptocurrencies, or running trading platforms for them, without a Central Bank licence. The Central Bank of Egypt says it has issued no such licence and describes these activities as criminal offences. So there are no tax rules for individuals' crypto gains.

Inheritance

Egypt has had no inheritance or estate tax since it was abolished by Law 227 of 1996. Estates are divided under Inheritance Law No. 77 of 1943, based on Islamic sharia. However, an heir who sells inherited property pays the 2.5% real estate disposal tax, and a gift or bequest of property to anyone other than parents, spouses or children is also a disposal subject to the same tax.

Property and wealth

There is no annual wealth tax. Built property is taxed at 10% of the annual rental value, after a 30% deduction for expenses on homes and 32% on other units (Law 196 of 2008). Law 3 of 2026 raised the exemption for the owner's main home to a net annual rental value below 100,000 Egyptian pounds. Values are reassessed every 5 years.

Tax residency

You are tax resident in Egypt if you have a permanent home there, stay more than 183 days in any 12 months (in one stretch or in total), or are an Egyptian working abroad and paid from the Egyptian treasury (Article 2 of Law 91 of 2005). Residents are taxed on income from Egypt and on some foreign income, such as dividends and gains on selling unlisted stakes. The Egyptian Tax Authority issues tax residency certificates to resident individuals and companies so they can use double tax treaties. Apply on Form 9 (International Agreements) through the e-tax system if you are a registered taxpayer, or through the General Department of International Agreements.

Retirement and pensions

Article 12 of the Income Tax Law states that pensions and end-of-service pay are not taxed. The social insurance system sets a minimum pension of 1,755 Egyptian pounds and a maximum of 13,360 pounds a month for people retiring from January 2026. We found no retirement visa for foreigners on any official portal.

Cost to the employer

A private-sector employer pays 18.75% of insurable pay and the employee pays 11%, under Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019. Contributions are charged on pay between 2,700 and 16,700 Egyptian pounds a month from 1 January 2026, so nothing is paid on pay above 16,700 pounds.

Social insurance

Sources

1. Law No. 7 of 2024 amending Articles 8 and 13/1 of the Income Tax Law (Official Gazette issue 7 bis (A), 21 February 2024), reproduced text of the law Official source · checked 2 October 2026
2. Record of Law 7 of 2024 with the Official Gazette file (Manshurat Qanuniya) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
3. Income Tax Law No. 91 of 2005 and its amendments (Articles 2, 3, 9, 13 and 49) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
4. National Organization for Social Insurance: minimum and maximum contribution wage raised from 1 January 2026 (news item of 30/11/2025) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
5. Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019 (Articles 2, 19, 36, 46, 69 and 86) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
6. Law No. 4 of 2021 amending the Martyrs' Fund Law (Official Gazette issue 8 bis, 3 March 2021) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
7. Value Added Tax Law No. 67 of 2016 (Article 3) Official source · checked 2 October 2026
8. Central Bank of Egypt: official exchange rates Official source · checked 2 October 2026
9. PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Egypt, taxes on personal income (secondary source, for cross-checking only) Secondary source used to cross-check · checked 2 October 2026