Country guide · 8 min read · Updated October 2026
Payroll in Egypt: the month, the calendar and a salary worked through
How a payroll month runs in Egypt: the deadlines, social insurance branch by branch, a salary worked through to net pay and employer cost, overtime, the year's holidays and what is scheduled to change.
How does payroll work in Egypt?
Wages are paid at least once a month, in pounds, in cash or into a bank account. NOSI contributions are due at the start of the next month: 18.75% from the employer and 11% from the employee, on the insurable wage between EGP 2,700 and EGP 16,700 a month in 2026. Salary tax is withheld monthly on seven bands and paid by the 15th of the next month. Foreign employees contribute at the same rates.
Know the month's deadlines
Eight deadlines shape a payroll in Egypt. Each one sits with your own entity.
| Deadline | What is due |
|---|---|
| At least once a month, on a working day | Wages, in pounds, in cash or into each employee's bank account |
| At the start of the next month | Social insurance contributions to NOSI, both shares |
| Within the first 15 days of the next month | The salary tax withheld, to the Egyptian Tax Authority |
| In January, April, July and October | Form 4, the quarterly salary tax return, for the quarter before |
| In January | The year's final salary tax settlement, and Form 2 to NOSI with the year's changes to employees' details and wages |
| Within two weeks of joining | Registering the employee with NOSI on Form 1 |
| Within a week of leaving | Form 6 to NOSI, reporting the end of service |
| Within seven days of the employee's claim | Final pay, when employment ends for any reason |
Contributions paid within 15 days of the due date carry nothing extra. After that, they carry an additional amount for each month, at the average yield on Treasury bills and bonds the month before, plus 2%. A Form 6 sent late adds 20% of the last month's contribution for each month it is late.
Follow one salary through the month
Take a salary of EGP 15,000 a month, all of it counted for social insurance, outside the governorates where universal health insurance is in force. Here is the same salary for an Egyptian national and for a foreign employee working under the Labour Law and resident in Egypt for tax.
| An Egyptian national | A foreign employee | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross pay | EGP 15,000 | EGP 15,000 |
| Social insurance, from the employee | EGP 1,650 | EGP 1,650 |
| Salary tax | EGP 1,482.50 | EGP 1,482.50 |
| Net pay | EGP 11,867.50 | EGP 11,867.50 |
| Social insurance, from the employer | EGP 2,812.50 | EGP 2,812.50 |
| End of service, built up each month | Nothing: social insurance provides it | Nothing: social insurance provides it |
| The employer's cost for the month | EGP 17,812.50 | EGP 17,812.50 |
The two columns match, because the same rates apply to both.
Salary tax is worked out on the year's pay after the employee's social insurance, less a personal exemption of EGP 20,000. Each month carries a twelfth of the year's tax.
| For the year | |
|---|---|
| Pay after the employee's social insurance | EGP 160,200 |
| Less the personal exemption | EGP 20,000 |
| Taxable income | EGP 140,200 |
| 0% on the first EGP 40,000 | Nothing |
| 10% from EGP 40,000 to EGP 55,000 | EGP 1,500 |
| 15% from EGP 55,000 to EGP 70,000 | EGP 2,250 |
| 20% on the EGP 70,200 above EGP 70,000 | EGP 14,040 |
| The year's tax | EGP 17,790 |
| Withheld each month | EGP 1,482.50 |
Higher up, 20% runs to EGP 200,000, 22.5% to EGP 400,000 and 25% above it. Above EGP 600,000 of net income a year, the lower bands fall away in steps. Above EGP 1,200,000, the first EGP 1,200,000 is taxed at 25% and the rest at 27.5%. The year's net income is rounded down to the nearest EGP 10.
Pay overtime at the right rate
| What it earns | |
|---|---|
| Overtime by day | The hour's wage, plus at least 35% |
| Overtime at night | The hour's wage, plus at least 70% |
| Work on the weekly rest day | A further day's wage, and another day off in the following week |
| Work on an official holiday | The day's wage, plus two times that wage, or another day off if the worker asks for one in writing |
Normal hours are up to 8 a day and 48 a week. Overtime is for unusual work needs or exceptional circumstances, and the labour authority is told within seven days. A worker may not be at the workplace for more than 12 hours a day.
Mark the year's public holidays
Each official holiday is paid at the full wage, and none counts against annual leave.
| Holiday | Days |
|---|---|
| Coptic Christmas | One, the 7th of January |
| Revolution Day and Police Day | One, the 25th of January |
| Sham el-Nessim | One |
| Sinai Liberation Day | One, the 25th of April |
| Labour Day | One, the 1st of May |
| The June Revolution | One, the 30th of June |
| The July Revolution | One, the 23rd of July |
| Armed Forces Day | One, the 6th of October |
| Islamic New Year | One |
| The Prophet's Birthday | One |
| Eid al-Fitr | Two, the first two days of Shawwal |
| Eid al-Adha | Three: Arafat Day and the first two days of Eid |
The Islamic holidays follow the moon, and Sham el-Nessim follows Easter, so their dates move each year. The Minister of Labour can move a holiday to the start or end of the week. Non-Muslim employees also have their own religious holidays, under a decision of the Prime Minister.
Keep pay above the floor, and raise it each year
| The rule | |
|---|---|
| Minimum wage | EGP 7,000 a month in the private sector, set by the National Wages Council |
| The annual raise | At least 3% of the insurable wage, a year after joining and every year after. A business in economic difficulty can ask the National Wages Council to reduce or waive it |
| How wages are paid | In pounds, on a working day, in cash or into the employee's bank account, with a statement of what the pay is made of |
| Loans from the employer | No more than 10% of a wage may be deducted to repay one, and no interest is charged |
| Other deductions | No more than 25% of a wage for any debt, or 50% for maintenance, worked out after salary tax and social insurance |
| Unused annual leave | Settled, or paid, at least every three years, and paid out when employment ends |
| End of service | No gratuity builds up for insured service, because social insurance provides it |
Plan for the changes already scheduled
| When | What changes |
|---|---|
| Each January | The floor and the cap on the insurable wage rise, rounded up to the nearest EGP 100 |
| 1 January 2027 | The pension contribution rises by a point, shared equally: 12.5% from the employer and 9.5% from the employee. Social insurance in all comes to 19.25% from the employer and 11.5% from the employee |
| By 2032 | Universal health insurance covers the whole country, governorate by governorate |
Each change is in our engine before the run it affects. You are told what changed and what it does to your figures.
Run the month from one record
A month in Egypt brings together the bank file, social insurance on a wage with a floor and a cap that move each January, salary tax on seven bands and health insurance that differs by governorate. A payroll fed from several places struggles to keep them in step.
On our payroll, each comes from one record, on an engine we build and maintain for Egypt's law. Your entity submits the files and pays its people.
Common questions.
When are social insurance contributions due in Egypt?
Do foreign employees pay social insurance in Egypt?
How is salary tax worked out on a salary?
See how a payroll month runs with us.
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