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Egypt Payroll & Employment Guide 2026

Egypt combines a large labour market with a newly rewritten employment framework: Labour Law No. 14/2025 took effect on 1 September 2025 and reshapes overtime, leave, notice and severance. Unlike the Gulf states, Egypt levies a progressive personal income tax, withheld monthly by the employer and remitted to the Egyptian Tax Authority. Alongside tax, employers operate NOSI social insurance, several statutory funds, a mandatory annual raise and mandatory profit-sharing. Two structural forces shape 2026 payroll: the Law 14/2025 reforms and the NOSI contribution base, which rises by 15% every January through 2028 before indexing to inflation. Each is covered in the sections that follow.

12
pages: 8
chapters: 2.411
words: EGP
currency

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At a glance

Four key payroll indicators for Egypt

27.5%
TOP INCOME-TAX BAND: 48h
MAXIMUM WORKING WEEK: 29.75%
NOSI TOTAL (EMPLOYER + EMPLOYEE): 7,000 EGP
PRIVATE-SECTOR MINIMUM WAGE

What's in the guide

8 chapters, 12 pages

The opening summary of each chapter is below. Full text, tables and rates are in the PDF.

Company Setup & Business Environment

Entity types, the Representative Office limits, and the Employer of Record route.

A legal entity is required to process payroll in Egypt. Foreign investors most often use a limited liability company, while multinationals that want to employ staff without incorporating can operate through an Employer of Record. Whichever route is chosen, every employee must be registered with NOSI and the Ministry of Manpower systems.

Working Hours & Leave

Hours, overtime and the full annual, sick, maternity, paternity and statutory-leave regime.

The Labour Law caps the working week at 48 hours and eight hours per day, though most companies apply 40 hours in practice. Law 14/2025 revised overtime rates upward and reset the first-year annual-leave entitlement. Hours are reduced during Ramadan and outdoor work is restricted in the summer heat.

Tax & Social Security

Progressive income-tax brackets, NOSI and health-insurance rates, and the contribution caps.

Egypt applies a progressive personal income tax, withheld monthly by the employer and remitted to the Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA) by the 15th of the following month. Residents are taxed on worldwide income, non-residents on Egypt-source income only. Personal exemption: EGP 20,000/year (Law No. 7/2024).

İşveren Yükümlülükleri, Ücret & Bordro İşlemleri

Yasal fonlar, asgari ücret, brütten nete örnek hesaplama ve beyan takvimi.

NOSI'nin ötesinde Mısırlı işverenler çeşitli yasal fon yükümlülükleri ve yasayla sabit bir asgari ücret taşır. Aşağıdaki örnek, 20.000 EGP brüt maaşın 2026'da net ücrete ve toplam işveren maliyetine nasıl dönüştüğünü gösterir.

Hiring & Termination

Contracts, probation, notice periods and severance under Law 14/2025.

Monthly withholding and NOSI reports fall due on the 15th of the following month. Contracts must be written in Arabic, probation is capped at three months, and Law 14/2025 sets notice and severance by contract type and tenure.

Ücret, Yan Haklar & İzinler

Zorunlu yıllık zam, kâr paylaşımı, sağlık sigortası ve yabancı çalışma izinleri.

Kanun 14/2025 iki işveren yükümlülüğünü açıkça düzenler: zorunlu yıllık ücret artışı ve zorunlu kâr paylaşımı. Sağlık sigortası coğrafi olarak kademeli devreye alınıyor; yabancı istihdamı ise Çalışma Bakanlığı'nca yönetilen işgücü kotalarıyla sınırlanır.

Practical Notes

The checks that prevent the most common and most costly Egyptian payroll errors.

The obligations in this guide reduce to a short list of checks that prevent the most common and most costly Egyptian payroll errors. Each should be settled before the first pay run.

Incentives & Employer Support

The exemptions that carry a real cash effect for the employer, the investment incentives, and the items that leave payroll cost unchanged.

Egypt has no general contribution reduction or cash incentive that supports hiring. The employer social insurance burden is 18.75% of gross and rises to 19.25% in high-risk activities. Law No. 148/2019 defines no reduced rate for young people, women, people with disabilities, first-time hires or the long-term unemployed. The items that carry a real cash effect for the employer sit in a narrow frame: waiver of the late-payment surcharge, exemption from the training fund levy, and reduction of the mandatory annual raise by Council decision. Investment Law 72/2017 and the simplified tax regime operate on the corporate tax side and do not change payroll cost.

This guide is for general information only; it is not legal advice or a complete statement of the law. The content reflects the legislation in force when it was prepared, and legislation changes. Always take country-specific professional advice on a concrete case.

With Datassist

Running payroll and employment operations in Egypt

Employing people in Egypt means applying the rules in this guide again every pay cycle: tracking rates, filing social security, running compliant wage payment channels and calculating end-of-service entitlements. Datassist teams exist so you can manage that from a single point.

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