Before you start

A tax registration number
Employment or Egyptian-source income
An Egyptian bank account

Step-by-step

1
Register with the Egyptian Tax Authority
Your employer generally handles registration and withholding for employment income.
Via employerWho: Your employer
2
Confirm your personal exemption is actually applied
EGP 20,000 a year, or EGP 30,000 for persons with disabilities. Both residents and non-residents are entitled to it, and payroll does not always apply it correctly for a foreign hire.
Via employerWho: You
3
Understand the band structure
After the exemption, the first EGP 40,000 is taxed at 0%, then successive bands at 10%, 15%, 20%, 22.5%, 25% and 27.5% above EGP 1.2 million.
OnlineWho: You
4
Employees: tax is withheld monthly
Salary tax is deducted at source, so an employee with a single employer generally has nothing to file at year end.
Via employerWho: Your employer
5
Check your residency position if you have foreign income
Non-residents are taxed only on Egyptian-source income. If you have income from abroad, get your residency status confirmed rather than inferring it from how long you have been here.
OnlineWho: You
6
If you rent out property, get the position confirmed before you rely on it
Rental income from Egyptian property is Egyptian-source and taxable, and the treatment differs between the old frozen-rent regime and ordinary post-1996 lettings. Alexandria has an unusually large old-rent stock, and Law 164 of 2025 is changing what those contracts are worth. Take advice specific to the contract rather than to the city.
OnlineWho: You, with an accountant

Documents you’ll need

Tax registration number
Employment contract and payslips
Bank account details

Things most newcomers don’t know

The personal exemption rose by a third in 2024, and calculators lag.

Law No. 7 of 2024 raised the annual personal exemption from EGP 15,000 to EGP 20,000, with EGP 30,000 for persons with disabilities. Combined with the 0% band on the first EGP 40,000, that puts roughly EGP 60,000 a year outside tax altogether. Any calculator or guide predating the change understates your take-home.

Source: Egyptian Law No. 7 of 2024; Egyptian Tax Authority

Non-residents get the same personal exemption as residents.

This is unusual — most countries withhold the personal allowance from non-residents. In Egypt both are entitled to the EGP 20,000 annual salary exemption, with non-residents taxed only on Egyptian-source income. It is worth checking that your payroll department has actually applied it, because for a foreign hire it is often missed.

Source: Egyptian Tax Authority — personal income tax

A 27.5% top rate is moderate; currency is the real story.

Egypt's headline rates are unremarkable and the effective burden on a mid-level salary is low. What actually determines your outcome is the currency your salary is paid and held in, given the pound's depreciation. Negotiating part of a package in foreign currency is worth more than any bracket optimisation you could do.

Source: Egyptian Tax Authority rates; Egyptian currency history

The bands have been revised repeatedly, so date whatever you rely on.

Egypt has adjusted brackets and exemptions several times in recent years, including the 2024 exemption increase. Check the publication date of any source before modelling an offer — this is a jurisdiction where three-year-old guidance is genuinely wrong rather than merely dated.

Source: Egyptian Tax Authority; successive amending laws

Common mistakes to avoid

Using a tax calculator predating Law No. 7 of 2024 — the exemption rose from EGP 15,000 to EGP 20,000.
Assuming non-residents forfeit the personal exemption. They do not.
Optimising for tax bands while ignoring the currency your salary is paid in.
Relying on guidance more than a couple of years old in a jurisdiction that revises brackets frequently.
Assuming rental income from an old frozen-rent Alexandria flat is taxed like an ordinary letting.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.