Egypt's insurable wage in 2026: the limits and what counts
What wage are social insurance contributions paid on? In the private sector, January's wage, within EGP 2,700–16,700 in 2026, less allowances capped at 30%.
Executive summary
- The insurable wage is the cash consideration the employee receives from his original employer for his original work. It covers basic pay, incentives, commissions, overtime and allowances, except four kinds of allowance the text excludes (article 1(8) of Social Insurance and Pensions Law No. 148 of 2019).
- The limits for 2026 are EGP 2,700 a month minimum and EGP 16,700 a month maximum, up from 2,300 and 14,500 in 2025.
- Both limits rise every 1 January, by 15% for seven years and by the inflation rate after that, rounded up to the nearest hundred pounds (article 53 of the executive regulations).
- A private-sector employee's contributions for the whole year are computed on the January wage; an employee who joins after January is insured on the wage of the month he joined until the following January (article 115 of the Law; article 70 of the regulations).
- The excluded allowances may not exceed 30% of the insurable wage in total (article 53 of the regulations).
What the insurable wage includes
The Law defines the insurable wage as "the cash consideration received by the insured ... from his original employer in return for his original work", then lists its elements (article 1(8)). The executive regulations issued by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 2437 of 2021 repeat the list (article 1(9)):
| Included in the insurable wage | Excluded from it |
|---|---|
| Job-grade, basic and complementary pay, and any pay above the maximum basic wage | Transport, travel and meeting-attendance allowances, and any allowance paid to cover costs the employee incurs in his work, except the representation allowance, which is included |
| Incentives, commissions, overtime pay and compensation for extraordinary effort | Housing, clothing and car allowances, and any allowance paid in lieu of a benefit in kind |
| Tips, where customers customarily pay them at a set percentage into a common fund with agreed rules of distribution | Allowances for part-time secondment inside or outside the employer |
| Other allowances, the cost-of-living grant, social and additional social increments, and special increments not merged into basic pay | Allowances to meet the cost of living abroad |
| Collective grants and collective bonuses |
The test is therefore the cash consideration the employee receives for his original work, in the elements listed, and the only exclusions the text makes are the four kinds of allowance as it describes them.
The 2026 limits and how they are set
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum insurable wage | EGP 2,300 | EGP 2,700 |
| Maximum insurable wage | EGP 14,500 | EGP 16,700 |
The National Organization for Social Insurance (NOSI) announced the new limits on 30 November 2025, in force from 1 January 2026. The Law leaves the limits to the regulations (the last sentence of article 1(8)), and the regulations fix them by formula: EGP 1,000 and EGP 7,000 from 1 January 2020, raised by 15% every 1 January for seven years and then by the inflation rate, with each monthly limit rounded up to the nearest hundred pounds (article 53). Applying the formula to the 2025 limits gives the announced figures: 2,300 × 1.15 = 2,645, rounded up to 2,700; and 14,500 × 1.15 = 16,675, rounded up to 16,700.
The insurable wage is never below the minimum or above the maximum. In its announcement NOSI stressed that the Law "obliges employers to insure the employee's actual wage", and that the minimum exists for groups whose pay is hard to establish, such as informal, construction and agricultural workers. Insuring an employee on the minimum when his actual wage is higher is therefore a breach of the definition of the insurable wage in article 1(8).
No compulsory contributions are due on pay above the maximum. The employee may apply for an additional pension in return for contributing on the excess, up to 100% of the maximum (article 38 of the Law).
The January wage in the private sector
The Law computes contributions in two different ways (article 115, repeated in article 70 of the regulations):
- Employees of the State administrative apparatus, public authorities, the public sector and the public business sector: on the wage due in each month.
- Private-sector employees and those treated alike: "over a calendar year on the basis of their wages in January of each year". An employee who joins after January is insured on the wage of the month he joined until the following January.
A raise the employer grants a private-sector employee in mid-year therefore does not change his insurable wage until the next January, when every employee's insurable wage is reset on the January wage and the new limits together. Private-sector establishments file Form 2 (the establishment's registration request or notice of changes to the insured employees' data and wages) each January, and on any date during the year on which a law or decree amending wages is issued, under the instructions on the form substituted by Prime Ministerial Decree No. 487 of 2022.
Article 115 sets three further rules: a month counts as thirty days for employees not paid monthly; no contributions are due for the month in which employment starts unless it is a full month; and contributions are due in full for the month in which it ends.
The 30% ceiling on excluded allowances
The regulations provide that "in all cases the total allowances excluded from the insurable wage must not exceed 30% of the employee's insurable wage" (article 53). Splitting pay into excluded allowances is therefore limited: allowances beyond that ratio in total are not excluded.
Example: a private-sector employee's package in January 2026:
| Item | Monthly (EGP) | In the insurable wage? |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay | 9,000 | Yes |
| Monthly incentive | 2,500 | Yes |
| Representation allowance | 1,500 | Yes |
| Transport allowance | 1,200 | No |
| Housing allowance | 2,000 | No |
The insurable wage is 9,000 + 2,500 + 1,500 = EGP 13,000, within the limits. The excluded allowances come to EGP 3,200, or 24.6% of the insurable wage, within the ceiling. The insurable wage stays at EGP 13,000 until December 2026 even if the employer raises his pay in July. Had the included elements of the January wage been EGP 25,000, the insurable wage would be only EGP 16,700, the maximum.
What this requires of the employer
- Set out each element of pay by name and nature in the contract and the payroll, so that what is included in the insurable wage and what is excluded can be seen.
- Check that each employee's excluded allowances do not exceed 30% of his insurable wage.
- Reset every employee's insurable wage in the January payroll, on the January wage and the new limits: raise those on the old minimum, and recompute those at the old maximum.
- File Form 2 in January, and whenever a law or decree amending wages is issued.
- Do not insure an employee on the minimum when his actual wage is higher.
- The employee's share of contributions is exempt from salary tax (article 13(2) of Income Tax Law No. 91 of 2005), so an error in the insurable wage carries into the tax computation, as set out in Egypt's personal income tax brackets. The January deadlines are collected in the Egypt tax and social insurance compliance calendar.
The firm's Social Insurance & Labour Department sets each employee's insurable wage and reviews it every January, as part of its payroll and social insurance services.
Nehal Saied, Partner
Chartered Accountant, Ministry of Finance, Egypt
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.