6 things to know about Egypt’s coming unified business tax

Egypt’s government is racing to swap a bewildering mosaic of agency-level service fees for a single, profit-based levy. Officials say the unified tax will debut “within months,” part of a broader push to make investment simpler, cheaper and more predictable. Here are six take-aways that put the plan in context.

1. Hidden costs weigh heavily on investors

Opening a factory or service company in Egypt can involve paying dozens of separate charges to ports, industrial zones, municipal authorities and regulators—often calculated on turnover, head-count or even production capacity. CEOs complain that the cumulative burden is hard to forecast and easy to game, undermining the level playing field the government is trying to advertise.​

2. New levy focuses on net profits, not paperwork

Under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s directive, those myriad fees will be folded into an “additional tax” of about 2–3 percent on net profit, collected through the existing corporate-income-tax return. The aim is to cut compliance time and give firms clarity on their after-tax margin while preserving revenue for public agencies that now depend on fee income. A draft law is expected to reach parliament before the summer recess.​

3. Reform is the centerpiece of a wider investment drive

The tax overhaul dovetails with Egypt Vision 2030, which targets a 65-70 percent private-sector share of total investment and $145 billion in annual exports by decade’s end. One flagship tool is the “golden license,” a single permit that lets strategic projects secure land, construction approval and operation within weeks instead of years. Nine such licenses have already been issued, and eligibility has just been expanded to Gulf investors.​

4. Digital overhaul is already cutting red tape

The new levy will plug into systems the Tax Authority has rolled out since 2020, including mandatory e-invoicing, real-time B2C e-receipts and a customs single-window known as NAFEZA. Together these platforms have trimmed port-clearance times and reduced invoice audits, laying the groundwork for one-stop tax collection.​

5. Foreign investors are responding with record inflows

Net FDI hit $46.1 billion in FY 2023/24—nearly five times the previous year—thanks in part to Abu Dhabi’s $35 billion Ras el-Hekma deal and confidence that Egypt is tackling foreign-exchange and licensing bottlenecks. Officials argue that a transparent, unified tax will sustain that momentum as the country chases $60 billion in annual inflows by 2030.​

6. What happens next and why it matters

The Finance Ministry still has to fine-tune the profit-based rate, reconcile agency budgets that now rely on fees, and reassure small-enterprise owners who benefit from recent micro-tax incentives. If the rollout succeeds, Egypt could climb in global ease-of-doing-business benchmarks and lock in the investor goodwill generated by its recent currency float and mega-deals. If it stumbles, the patchwork of hidden charges may simply re-emerge under new names. Either outcome will shape the competitiveness of Africa’s third-largest economy for years to come.

By shifting the tax burden from opaque levies to a single, predictable charge, Cairo hopes to show that reform is more than rhetoric—an essential signal as tariff wars and geopolitical shocks squeeze global capital flows.