Egypt VAT Calculator

VAT in Egypt is governed by Law No. 67 of 2016. Two questions come up more than any other: which rate applies, and when does registration become mandatory? This tool answers both, because the second answer is not read off a rate but out of an article.

The rates in Article (3)

• Standard rate on goods and services: 14% from the start of fiscal year 2017/2018 (it was 13% in 2016/2017).
• Machines and equipment used in manufacturing a commodity or providing a service: 5% — with buses and passenger cars expressly excluded in the text.
• One percentage point of the standard rate is allocated to social justice programmes; that is an internal allocation and does not change what you pay.

The threshold in Article (16) — and where it goes wrong

Registration becomes mandatory once your sales over the preceding twelve months reach or exceed five hundred thousand pounds, and the application is filed within thirty days of the date the threshold was reached. Anyone below it may register voluntarily under Article (18).

• The threshold counts sales of **taxable and exempt** goods and services together — not taxable alone. Counting only taxable sales can put you below the line on paper while you are above it in law.
• The wording is 'reach or exceed', so hitting the figure exactly triggers the obligation rather than deferring it.
• The thirty days run from the **date the threshold was reached**, not from the end of the fiscal year.
• And the window rolls: twelve preceding months measured at any point in time, not a calendar year with a start and an end.

Worked example

A business with 520,000 pounds of sales over the last twelve months, issuing an invoice of 1,000 before tax:

1. Tax on the invoice = 1,000 x 14% = 140
2. Invoice total = 1,140
3. Cumulative sales 520,000 — which is 20,000 over the threshold
4. Verdict: registration is required, within thirty days of the date the five hundred thousand was reached
5. Had sales been 480,000, registration would be optional, with 20,000 still to run before the threshold

Practical tips

• Track cumulative sales monthly rather than annually: the threshold is usually crossed mid-month, and the clock starts that day, not at year end.
• Separate taxable from exempt in your books, then add them back together when testing the threshold — separated for the tax calculation, combined for the test.
• If your customers are registered businesses, that can favour voluntary registration before the threshold, because your tax invoice lets them deduct.
• Keep an exportable invoice archive: proving cumulative sales is exactly what gets asked for on review.

Source: the official English translation of Value Added Tax Law No. 67 of 2016, issued by the Egyptian Tax Authority (eta.gov.eg), updated January 2023 — Articles (3) and (16). Accessed August 2026. This tool calculates; it does not give a ruling.