Egypt A to Z: From Sign-Up to the Monthly Tax Filing

This guide takes an Egyptian company from sign-up to its first monthly VAT filing, one step at a time: the organisation and its books in EGP, the Egypt tax pack, tax codes, customers and suppliers, ETA e-invoices and e-receipts, withholding and its statements (Forms 41 and 11), the monthly VAT return (Form 10), the reverse charge return for services from abroad (Form 111) and the annual corporate income tax computation. Each step says where to click and what is ready when it is done. It ends with a month-end checklist and a troubleshooting section built from the messages you will actually see.

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The whole journey

From sign-up to the monthly filing SVG

Before you start

Step 1: The organisation

When you sign up, choose Egypt under Country of registration in Your organisation. To change it later: the account menu, Settings → General, Country of registration, then Save details. This is the country your company is taxed in; the free-text Country in the postal address only prints on letterheads.

Ready when done: Enspekt knows you are an Egyptian company, so Settings → Tax & compliance offers the Egypt pack first.

Step 2: Activate the Egypt tax pack

Go to Settings → Tax & compliance and choose Add a country. The wizard has five steps: Country, Registrations, Questions, Preview and Confirm.

1. Country. Pick Egypt and leave This country is on Country of residence. The wizard offers the latest version of the pack, shown as Pack version and its number. This guide describes version 6.

2. Registrations. Tick Registered for VAT and enter the Tax registration number (nine digits, for example 674859545), Registered from, Files (Monthly; Quarterly only under the small projects regime) and Tax year starts on (the first day of the tax year, not the registration date). Tick Registered for Corporate income tax and Registered for Withholding tax with the same number. Table tax is filed on the VAT return: tick Registered for Table tax only if you supply table goods or services.

   Leave Set up E-invoicing (ETA e-invoice, B2B), starting in validate-only mode ticked. It links your company to ETA but sends nothing on its own.

3. Questions. VAT status (Registered or Not registered) is required. Tax card number, Tax office, Commercial registration number and Under the simplified regime for small projects (Law 6/2025) are optional. The pack has no separate field for the tax file: your tax card number goes in Tax card number. Report services from abroad the business does not need on Form 10 (output only) instead of Form 111 is optional too: leave it unanswered or on No unless your adviser says otherwise (see the Form 111 section after Step 9).

4. Preview. It runs the real activation and rolls it back. Read Tax codes to create, Withholding types to add, Accounts to add, Registrations and any Clashes (left as they are). Activation never overwrites your own codes or accounts, and never changes your base currency.

5. Confirm. Choose Activate and enter the code from your authenticator app.

Ready when done: the Egypt card shows your registrations, the pack version with its review state, the VAT, corporate tax and withholding Periods with their due dates, and a Readiness list: tax registrations entered; tax codes linked to the VAT and table tax accounts; the tax accounts in the chart; ETA e-invoicing seller details, credentials and signing service; items carrying their ETA codes; record retention at or above the legal minimum (five years). Edit answers changes the questions later. Deactivate suspends the pack; nothing is deleted.

Step 3: The books in EGP

Open Accounting → Chart of Accounts. The Set up accounting checklist at the top has three items:

1. Functional currency. With the pack active it reads Suggested by the Egypt tax pack: EGP. Check that the box says EGP and choose Confirm. It cannot change once anything is posted, and the first posting is refused until it is confirmed.
2. Fiscal year. Set the first year's start and end in Accounting Settings → Fiscal Periods, then Set up the year.
3. Chart of accounts. Choose Seed starter chart. It adds the Egyptian tax accounts from the pack.

Then open Accounting Settings → General and set Withholding tax payable account to 2230 Withholding Tax Payable. Activation does not set it, and a supplier payment with withholding is refused until it is set.

Ready when done: the checklist disappears, and the Readiness items for accounts and tax codes are ticked.

Step 4: Tax codes

Activation creates thirteen tax codes. See them under Accounting Settings → Tax Codes, each with its rate, its VAT return box and its accounts.

Two taxes on one line

An item in the second section of the Table annexed to the VAT Law (mobile telecom services, air conditioners) bears table tax and VAT, and the VAT is charged on the value including the table tax: EGP 1,000 plus 8% table tax is 1,080, and 14% VAT on 1,080 is 151.20.

On a sales invoice, a credit note or a supplier invoice, choose the line's VAT code first (for example EG-STD). A second list then appears under it, Tax before VAT, starting on No tax before VAT: choose EG-TBL2-TELECOM or EG-TBL2-AC there. The line's tax is then both taxes. The second list appears only once the line has a tax code, and only in an organisation that has a code charged before VAT.

• On a sale, the table tax posts to Table Tax Payable (2240) and the VAT to VAT Output (2200). The ETA document carries both taxes on the line.
• On a purchase, the table tax is not deductible: it is added to the line's cost, and only the VAT goes to VAT Input (1400).

Ready when done: every invoice and bill line can carry an Egyptian code, and a line can carry a table tax before its VAT.

Step 5: Customers, suppliers and items

Customers

ETA reads the customer's tax registration number, address and type from the customer record, under Sales → Customers. Choose Add Customer, or open a customer and choose Edit, then fill:

Suppliers

On the supplier's page, in the Withholding Tax panel (visible with accounts payable):

The supplier's own tax identity is under Edit Profile, in the Tax identity section (and shown on the page in the Tax identity panel):

Items

Each invoice line needs its ETA item code. Enter the product's EGS code (EG-<your tax registration number>-<your code>, as registered with ETA) or its GS1 barcode as the product's Part Number. For POS sales, the code is the product's barcode.

EGP on purchasing and projects

Purchase Orders, RFQ (and the supplier's quote), Projects and sales Products all offer EGP as the currency (Egyptian Pound (EGP) on a purchase order).

Ready when done: suppliers carry their withholding type and items carry their ETA codes, the last Readiness item.

Step 6: ETA e-invoicing

6.1 Register your ERP on the ETA portal

On ETA's registration portal, register your ERP system. ETA gives you a client ID and client secret, separately for pre-production and production. These belong to your ETA account; Enspekt cannot obtain them for you.

6.2 Your signing service

ETA accepts only documents signed with your eSeal certificate (a CAdES-BES signature). The certificate stays on your token or HSM, and Enspekt never holds it. A signing service that you run next to the token signs each document: Enspekt sends it the document's canonical text and SHA-256 hash, signed with a shared secret of at least 16 characters, and stores the signature it returns. Your IT provider builds or buys the service from the contract Enspekt publishes (docs/eta-signing-service.md: the request, the response and the signature format).

6.3 Enter the ETA settings

Go to Settings → Tax & compliance. The ETA e-invoicing (Egypt) card appears once the Egypt pack is active.

1. Seller details, exactly as on your ETA profile: Registered name, Registered name (Arabic), Branch ID, Governorate, City or region, Street, Building number, Postal code and Activity code.
2. Environment: Sandbox (build and check only), then ETA pre-production, then ETA production.
3. ETA credentials and signing service, for each environment (pre-production and production): Client ID, Client secret, Signing service URL (https) and Signing service shared secret. Secrets are stored encrypted and never shown again; a saved one shows "(set)".
4. Tick Send documents to ETA automatically after posting when you are ready, and choose Save (it asks for your authenticator code).

There is no "test connection" button: the first document you send in pre-production is the test.

6.4 Sandbox first, then pre-production, then production

6.5 Build, sign, send and read ETA's verdict

What happens to an invoice SVG

Follow every document in Accounting → Tax Workspace → ETA e-invoices (columns Document, Environment, Status, ETA UUID):

Build missing (last 90 days) builds the documents of invoices and credit notes posted before ETA was set up. A credit note names the ETA document of its invoice, so send the invoice first.

Ready when done: posted invoices reach Valid in the register.

Step 7: POS e-receipts

1. Register your POS on the ETA portal. ETA gives you the POS serial number, the pre-shared key and the POS client ID and POS client secret.
2. Open POS → Settings → ETA e-receipt device and enter the POS serial number, POS OS version, POS model framework, POS client ID, POS client secret, Pre-shared key, Branch ID and Activity code (left blank, these two come from the ETA seller details), and the Environment (ETA pre-production or ETA production).
3. Tick Issue e-receipts from this device and choose Save. Only an org admin can save it, with an authenticator code. One device is active per organisation.

A sale at the till SVG

• Chained per device. Each receipt names the one before it on the same device; the card shows Last receipt UUID. A return names its sale's receipt.
• Reported in the background. A scheduled job sends pending receipts to ETA every two hours.
• Offline sales. A sale made while the till is offline prints "e-Receipt: queued" without a QR. It gets its e-receipt and QR when it syncs.
• Large sales. From EGP 150,000, ETA needs the buyer's national ID and name. The till does not ask for them yet, so such a receipt is kept as invalid and not sent: issue an e-invoice for that sale instead.

Until the device is active, the till prints ordinary VAT receipts.

Ready when done: the POS sales list shows each sale's e-Receipt status.

Step 8: Withholding at source on supplier payments

Withholding on a supplier payment SVG

1. On the supplier invoice, Withholding tax type defaults to Supplier default; choose another type for this invoice if needed. The field appears when the supplier's Applicable is ticked.
2. Pay the invoice, from the supplier invoice or an AP Payment Run. The payment withholds at the type's rate on the value before VAT (from pack version 2): an invoice of EGP 10,000 plus 14% VAT for a service at 3% withholds EGP 300, not 342. The supplier receives the net; the withheld amount is credited to Withholding Tax Payable (2230). Nothing is withheld on an invoice whose value before VAT is EGP 300 or less: the law withholds only on a larger amount.
3. Each payment is listed under Accounting → AP Payments. Its row shows Gross, Withheld and Net, and its Certificate (a Withholding Tax Certificate PDF, in English or Arabic) for the supplier.
4. To check the withholding at any time, open Accounting → WHT Summary, choose From and To, and Run. The report groups by month with the amount to Remit, totals By payment type, and lists each line with its Base, Rate and Withheld. Non-resident suppliers carry a Non-resident badge.
5. The quarterly statement (Form 41). Withholding is filed by quarter, by the end of the month after it (the end of April, July, October and January). In Accounting → Tax Workspace, find the Withholding tax period and choose Open statement. Withholding statement (Form 41) lists each payment (Payment, Payee, Type, Value, Rate, Withheld), and Download xlsx gives it in ETA's own Form 41 template; the second sheet is for checking and is not uploaded. Clear the issues it lists, choose Prepare, upload the file on the tax portal, then choose File and record the portal's reference with Record submission.
6. Authority codes. Form 41 asks for a transaction-nature code and a deduction type for each withholding type. ETA lists them only on its portal: copy them into the withholding types table under Accounting Settings → General, column Authority codes (Nature and Type). Prepare is blocked while a withholding type has no codes, or while a payee has neither a nine-digit tax registration number nor a fourteen-digit national ID.
7. Non-residents (Form 11). Payments to non-residents are left off Form 41. They are listed under Payments to non-residents (Form 11) in the same statement, with their own Download xlsx in ETA's Form 11 template. Form 11 is due the working day after each payment: download it and upload it on the portal as the payments are made.

Ready when done: every supplier payment carries its withholding and certificate, and each quarter's Form 41 is prepared, uploaded and filed.

Step 9: The monthly VAT return (Form 10)

The VAT return is due within the month after each period. Enspekt builds a working summary of Form 10 from your posted invoices, credit notes, supplier invoices and POS sales, the two upload sheets in ETA's own Excel templates, and Form 10 itself in its official layout. You file on ETA's e-tax portal.

The monthly VAT return SVG

1. Compute. Open Accounting → Tax Workspace, find the VAT period and choose Open return. The return is computed from the books each time it opens, using VAT return (Form 10) working summary.

2. Review the boxes. Choose a box to see why this number: its formula, its source and every document in it.

   Section	Boxes
   Sales	Sales at the standard rate; Sales of machinery and equipment at 5%; Exports and supplies to free zones (zero-rated); Exempt sales; Total sales; Services received from abroad (reverse charge, as a sale); Services from abroad not needed for the activity (reverse charge, tax due only)
   Table tax	Supplies subject to table tax only; Supplies subject to table tax and VAT; Table tax on services from abroad (reverse charge)
   Purchases	Purchases at the standard rate; Purchases of machinery and equipment at 5%; Imports, VAT paid at customs; Services received from abroad (reverse charge, as a purchase); Exempt and zero-rated purchases; Total purchases
   Tax due	VAT on sales; Deductible input VAT; Credit balance from the previous period; Net VAT due (or credit); Table tax due; Total due

   The working summary's box names are Enspekt's; Form 10 in its official layout is in step 6 below. The two reverse charge boxes for services you do not need are used only if you chose to report them on Form 10 (see the Form 111 section after this step).

3. Check the GL tie-out. Output VAT: return vs ledger and Input VAT: return vs ledger compare the return with the VAT accounts; the output side counts the table tax payable as well as VAT. A variance blocks Prepare until you explain it with an Add adjustment (with a Reason) or correct the postings. Enter last period's credit in Credit balance from the previous period as an adjustment.

4. Prepare. Save draft keeps your adjustments; Prepare freezes the numbers. If documents change afterwards, the return says so: prepare it again.

5. Download ETA's upload sheets. The ETA upload sheets (Form 10) card has Sales documents and Purchase documents, each with Download xlsx, its counts and totals, and Agrees with the return (or not). Open to check before uploading and clear each issue (see Troubleshooting). Table tax is listed too: a sale bearing table tax alone is a table good (tax type 2), and a sale bearing table tax and VAT is listed as two rows, the table tax and then the VAT on the value including it. Table tax on purchases is not deductible and is left off the purchase sheet.

6. Form 10 in its official layout. Below the two sheets, Form 10 in its official layout shows the return as the Minister of Finance's Decree 403/2023 lays it out, as the sum of the two sheets, with its own Download xlsx and Agrees with the return's working summary (or not). A registrant of table goods files page 2 of the form, which is the second sheet of the download. Adjustments you entered by hand are not in it. ETA has no API for the return: key these figures on the portal, or compare them with what the portal computes from the uploaded sheets.

7. Upload on the portal. On ETA's e-tax portal, attach the two sheets to the period's VAT return and submit it.

8. Record the filing. Back in Enspekt choose File (with your authenticator code). VAT postings in the period are now locked. Then enter ETA's reference in Authority reference and choose Record submission. From then on the return is corrected only through Amendments (voluntary disclosure). Before the reference is recorded, Unfile (with a reason) reopens it.

Ready when done: the period shows Filed with ETA's reference, and its VAT postings are locked.

Form 111: services from abroad you do not need

A service from a non-resident that your business needs for its taxable activity is reverse charged on the monthly Form 10 with EG-RC-SVC, as a sale and as a purchase. A service you do not need for the activity is different: its tax is not deductible, and it is reported on Form 111, one return per service, within 30 days.

A service from abroad you do not need SVG

1. The supplier. Tick Non-resident on the supplier (Step 5) and give it its country code. Form 111 is refused for a supplier that is not marked non-resident.
2. The invoice. On the supplier invoice, give the service line EG-RC-111 (14%) or, for a service subject to table tax, EG-RC-111-TBL (10%). The line shows Self-assessed at posting. Posting credits the tax to Reverse Charge Tax Payable (2260) and debits the same amount to Non-recoverable Tax on Services from Abroad (6950), a cost: nothing goes to VAT input.
3. The return. In Accounting → Tax Workspace, each such invoice has its own row, Reverse charge return (Form 111) working summary, showing Service received (the invoice date), the invoice number and the supplier. It is due 30 days after the invoice date, or after the first payment against the invoice if that came earlier. Choose Open return: the boxes are Services at the general VAT rate, Services subject to table tax (10%), Tax due on this service and Tax recoverable as input (none), and Payable for this service is the amount to pay.
4. Prepare, submit the return and pay on the portal, then File and Record submission as for Form 10. ETA publishes no layout for Form 111, so there is no download: key the figures on the portal.

Form 10 instead, by your choice. ETA's reverse charge guide also lets a registered business report such a service on Form 10 as tax due only. To do that, choose Edit answers on the Egypt card and answer Yes to Report services from abroad the business does not need on Form 10 (output only) instead of Form 111. The services then go in the Form 10 boxes Services from abroad not needed for the activity (reverse charge, tax due only) and Table tax on services from abroad (reverse charge), with nothing deducted, and no Form 111 rows are made. A service already on a prepared or filed Form 111 stays off Form 10, so nothing is reported twice. The pack's default is Form 111: agree the choice with your adviser.

Ready when done: every service from abroad you do not need has its Form 111 filed with ETA's reference, or is on Form 10 by your choice.

Step 10: Corporate income tax (the annual computation)

Corporate income tax is 22.5% of the year's taxable profit, due four months after the year ends.

The annual income tax computation SVG

1. In Accounting → Tax Workspace, choose Open computation on the corporate tax year. The Corporate income tax computation runs from the ledger: Accounting profit before income tax, Add: non-deductible costs, Less: exempt income, Other adjustments, Taxable profit before losses, then Tax losses brought forward, Less: losses past five years, Losses set off, Net taxable profit, Losses carried forward and Corporate income tax.
2. Adjustments. Add adjustment, choose the kind, the amount and a Reason:
   • Adjusts taxable income, for example the 10% donations cap or the interest limits, which are entered by hand;
   • A loss of an earlier year not yet in the books, with the Last day of the year the loss arose in. A loss entered this way is not on the carry-forward ledger: enter what is left of it again next year.
3. Recompute shows the effect. Save draft keeps the adjustments (the panel is titled "preview, not saved", but Save draft and Prepare do save them). Prepare freezes the numbers. Once prepared, Return schedules for the tax portal offers Download xlsx: the computation laid out as the authority's return (the summary page, the detailed statement from accounting profit to the taxable base, and the attached schedules), with what to key from your own records. There is no API: key it on the portal.
4. File (with your authenticator code). The carry-forward ledgers are updated: losses used, losses that expired after five years, and a new loss.
5. Enter ETA's reference in Authority reference and choose Record submission. Unfile before that reverses the ledger movements.

Carry-forward ledgers, under the computation, list each Tax losses entry with Arose in, Movements and Balance. A loss can be set off for five years, with no cap.

Ready when done: the year shows Filed with its reference, and next year starts from the updated loss ledger.

Month-end checklist

To give these tasks owners and due days every month, build them once as a template in Accounting Settings → Close Checklists (New Template, Add item, Days after period end), then choose the period and Apply to Period: each item becomes a task in My Work.

Troubleshooting

Upload sheet issues

The card also says that VAT on customer advances is counted in the return from the ledger, with no row in the sheet.

Form 10 layout notes

These appear in the notes under Form 10 in its official layout.

Withholding statement messages

These appear on Withholding statement (Form 41).

ETA e-invoice messages

These appear on a document marked Needs fixing (in English).

Sending and signing messages

POS e-receipts

E-receipt issues are not listed in the app yet: a receipt that fails a check stays unsent. The usual causes are a product without a barcode (ETA item code), a sale from EGP 150,000 (buyer's national ID needed), or a return whose sale had no e-receipt.

Coming next

This is being built now. It is not in the product yet, and this guide will be updated when it ships.

ETA pre-production testing

The first end-to-end run against ETA's pre-production system, after which ETA sending loses its beta label.

FAQ

Is anything sent to ETA when we activate the pack? No. Nothing is sent until you enter your ETA details, choose an environment other than Sandbox and send.

Do we need our own ETA and certificate accounts? Yes. The ETA portal registration (ERP and POS credentials) and the eSeal certificate are yours, from ETA and an approved certificate provider. Enspekt never holds the certificate.

Does Enspekt file the return for us? No. It prepares the returns, the upload sheets and the withholding statements; you submit them on ETA's portal and record ETA's reference.

Can we turn it off? Deactivate on the Egypt card suspends the pack; nothing is deleted. It is refused while a period has ended without being filed. Unticking Send documents to ETA automatically after posting stops automatic sending.