Corporate tax returns in Egypt: deadline, penalties and what follows

Executive summary

• A juridical person's return is due by 30 April, or within four months of the end of its financial year. A natural person's is due by 31 March of the following year.
• The tax shown by the return is payable on the day it is filed.
• A delay of up to 60 days carries a fine of EGP 3,000 to 50,000. Failure to file for more than 60 days carries EGP 50,000 to 2,000,000, with imprisonment added where it is repeated.
• The late payment charge runs alongside the fine and does not stop on objection or appeal, but it may not exceed 100% of the principal tax.
• A filed return whose tax is not paid is an instrument of execution against the taxpayer; only a warning by registered letter stands between it and seizure.
• The five-year limitation period runs from the expiry of the filing deadline, not from the date of filing.

The deadline

Article 31 of the Unified Tax Procedures Law issued by Law No. 206 of 2020 sets the annual return deadlines: "before 1 April of each year following the end of the tax period" for natural persons, and "before 1 May of each year or within four months following the end of the financial year" for juridical persons. The Egyptian Tax Authority (the ETA) announced that Thursday 30 April 2026 was the last date for filing juridical persons' returns for 2025.

A company whose financial year ends other than on 31 December is governed by the four months, not by the April date: a year ending 30 June gives a deadline of 31 October.

Two conditions in the same article are often missed:

• A return filed without all the schedules and data required by the form and its annexes within the deadline is not recognised.
• It must be signed by an accountant entered in the register of accountants and auditors for capital companies, cooperatives, natural persons and partnerships whose turnover exceeds EGP 2 million a year. Where an independent accountant prepared it, the accountant must sign it with the taxpayer, failing which the return is treated as never filed.

Payment on the day of filing

The tax shown by the return is payable on the day it is filed (article 32). The law treats filing and paying as one step, not two, and failing to pay is itself punishable by a fine of EGP 3,000 to 50,000 (article 69).

The penalties

On a repeat offence, both the minimum and the maximum of the article 69 fine are tripled. Where failure to file is repeated for more than six monthly or three annual returns, the penalty is the fine and imprisonment of six months to three years, or either.

These are criminal penalties: proceedings may be brought only on the written request of the Minister or a delegate (article 74), and settlement is available (article 75).

It follows that the return is filed even when it is nil. Article 31 requires every taxpayer subject to the Income Tax Law to file an annual return, including for periods of exemption, and the penalty for failing to file starts at EGP 50,000 whether or not any tax is due.

The late payment charge is not the fine

The fine is a sanction for the breach. The late payment charge is a direct consequence of late settlement under article 110 of Income Tax Law No. 91 of 2005. The two run together; neither displaces the other.

It accrues on unpaid tax above EGP 200 from the day after the filing deadline, even where instalments have been granted, at the Central Bank of Egypt credit and discount rate announced on the 1 January preceding that day, plus 2%, disregarding fractions of a month and of a pound. The credit and discount rate on 1 January 2026 was 20.50% under ETA Circular No. 1 of 2026, so a charge starting in 2026 runs at 22.50% a year.

It is not suspended by an objection or a judicial appeal. Two limits apply:

• It may not exceed 100% of the principal tax on which it is due (article 45 bis of the Unified Tax Procedures Law, added by Law No. 7 of 2025).
• 30% of it is waived on tax that becomes due under an agreement with the ETA reached before the appeal committee decides (article 110 as amended by Law No. 16 of 2020).

What to know before filing a return you cannot pay

Article 46 of the Unified Tax Procedures Law gives the ETA the right to levy execution for the amount due as shown by the returns filed where it is not paid on time, without issuing a demand or notice, the return itself being the instrument of execution. The seizure may, however, be levied only after the taxpayer has been warned by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, unless collection of the tax debt is at risk.

A taxpayer who files a return showing tax and does not pay it has handed the Authority an instrument of execution against itself; only a warning by registered letter stands between that and seizure, and not even that where collection is at risk. This is not an argument for withholding the return — the failure-to-file penalty is heavier and the late payment charge runs regardless. It means that the decision to file without paying is one taken with its consequence known, and with the payment position arranged alongside it.

Limitation runs from the deadline, not from filing

The ETA may assess or amend the tax only within five years of the expiry of the period prescribed by law for filing the return for the tax period (article 44 as replaced by Law No. 211 of 2020) — not from the date the return was actually filed. A company that files late therefore does not postpone the start of the five years.

Limitation is, however, interrupted by any cause recognised by the Civil Code, by notice of assessment, by a demand to pay, and by referral to the appeal committees.

The amended return

A taxpayer who discovers an omission or an error in the return within the year after the deadline must file an amended return correcting it. An amended return filed within thirty days of the deadline counts as the original, and the error it corrects is not treated as evasion. The right to file one is lost once a case of evasion is discovered or the taxpayer is notified that an audit is starting (article 33).

What this requires

• Set the filing deadline from the company's financial year end rather than from the April date, and record it in the compliance calendar with the four-month rule.
• Close the books and prepare the financial statements so that review is possible well before the deadline, not in its final week.
• File the return even when it is nil, with all its schedules and annexes, signed by a registered accountant where turnover exceeds EGP 2 million.
• Pay the tax on the day of filing, or arrange the payment position beforehand in the light of articles 32 and 46.
• Correct any omission or error by an amended return within the year after the deadline, and before any audit notice.
• Schedule the periods for which the five years have not yet run when reviewing any historic tax position, checking whether a notice, demand or referral has interrupted the period.

The firm's Tax Department prepares, reviews and files returns, and assesses the position of earlier periods against the limitation period.

Mahmoud Nassef — Chartered Accountant (Egyptian Register), Founder Partner

Member, Egyptian Society of Accountants & Auditors
Member, Egyptian Tax Society
Member, Egyptian Society for Public Finance and Taxation

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Disclaimer: This bulletin is prepared for general information on the legislation in force at the date of its publication. It does not constitute a professional opinion or tax or legal advice on any particular matter, and it should not be relied upon in place of advice based on an examination of the circumstances of each case. Nassef & Partners International accepts no responsibility for any action taken, or refrained from, in reliance on its contents. The positions stated remain subject to subsequent legislation and decisions.