The appropriate legal form can be determined based on the number of shareholders and the company’s activity (as some activities require the Joint Stock Company form). However, we usually recommend the LLC company. With LLC company:

A. No minimum capital is required.

B. It is the fastest legal form to set up— Often, the formation process doesn’t take longer than 10 business days.

C. No need to register with the stock market.

D. No need to hold a constituent assembly to appoint the board of directors.

E. Ease of transferring the shares or changing the activity.

F. The bankruptcy of the company does not affect the shareholders’ private wealth.

Yes, they can (Law No.159/1981) and (Law No.72-2017) allow foreigners to own 100% of a company in Egypt.

Two main laws govern and organize the corporate sector in Egypt:

A. Law No.159/1981; and
B. Law No.72/2017.

No. Whether you are the owner or the manager, your presence is not required during the incorporation process—if you have an agent in Egypt.

A. The foreign investor himself, if he has a valid residency license.
B. An Egyptian agent.
C. A foreign agent, if he has a valid residency license.

A. DOCUMENTS:
– Legalized Power of Attorney (PoA)
– Copy of translated Commercial Register (CR) and financial statements for the last year if the shareholder is a company, or Copy of translated passport if the shareholder is a natural person
– Copy of translated passport of the proposed General Manager/s (if not an Egyptian citizen)
– Notarized lease agreement for the office space—not required for the company formation, but it’s a must for VAT certificate and social insurance file.

B. INFORMATION:
– Proposed five trade names.
– Declaration of the amount of company capital.
– Company address (detailed address).
– Company activity.
– Company’s proposed duration.

C. TIME:
The time required for incorporating a company in Egypt varies significantly based on many factors, including:
– Availability of required documents
– The time/season of document submission: The process may take longer if the documents are being submitted during Ramadan, Eid Al Adha, or Eid Al Fitr.

Assuming all the required documents were ready, and there are no official holidays during the application period, the standard time for obtaining your company’s documents is 7-10 business days, after which you will receive the following:

1- Articles of Association (AoA)
2- Commercial Register (CR)
3- Tax ID
4- VAT Certificate
5- Notarized Legal Records (shares record – meeting record – ledger record – inventory record)
As for the “Bilingual Investment Gazette” issuing this document requires 20-30 business days.

D. FEES:
– Official incorporation fees: Range from $400 to $1000, depending on the proposed capital and the company’s activity.
– Bank Deposit: Around $3200 for ILLC and $1600 for JSC. For LLC, no bank deposit is required.
– Professional Fees: based on the engagement letter

The Investment Authority in Egypt provides a trade name reservation service with no need to go through the incorporation process. Hence, you can check the availability of your trade name before commencing the company formation.

Yes, You can mention your trade name in English at the (AoA). Once you receive your company’s CR, you can ask the investment authority to issue and attest a bilingual Investment Gazette. This Gazette will include all the information mentioned at the company’s AoA in Arabic in addition to the suggested language.

Egypt is not a signatory to Apostille Convention (Hague Treaty Convention 12), therefore any submitted documents to the Egyptian authorities need to be legalized to be usable in Egypt.

1. Trade Agency.
2. Real Estate Agency/Brokerage Firm.
3. Customs Clearance.
4. Security Services.
5. Law Firms.
6. Accounting Firms.
7. Import & Export (not applicable to exporting the manufacturers’ products).
8. Ownership of Agricultural Lands (not applicable to reclaimed lands).

You can assign a foreign manager/s to your company in Egypt with no need to calculate the ‘Egyptizing’ ratio. As for foreign employees, they shouldn’t exceed 10% of the total workforce of your company.

The work permit is not a must for the manager to run the business in Egypt, as he might replace it with a tourist residency, to be allowed for signing documents before governmental authorities or banks.
For employees, a work permit is critical to be able to enter the country as an employee in the company otherwise he will be considered as a tourist.

On another hand, there are some cases that don’t require obtaining work permits for foreign employees, for instance:

– Foreign employees whom enrolled in internships in Egypt for a period that is less than a year
– Administrative staff in the foreign embassies, consulates, commissions, regional organizations or agencies in Egypt
– Foreign correspondents

Intellectual property rights (IP) in Egypt are governed by Law No. 82/2002 and its amendments. Egypt is also a signatory to, among others, the following international conventions concerning IP:
A. Berne Convention of 1886 (with a reservation to Article 33 concerning the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice)
B. Paris Convention 1883
C. Madrid Convention of 1954
D. Patent Co-operation Treaty 1970

Yes. To obtain a license of your maintenance facility, you will need to submit a Commercial Register and the Tax ID of your firm, hence, you must set up a company.

• Yes. To obtain the Industrial Register (IR) of your factory, you need to submit a Commercial Register and a Tax ID of your firm, hence, you must set up a company.

A representative office is one of the legal forms that foreigners are allowed to set up in Egypt, hence, no need to set up a company in Egypt for that purpose. Nevertheless, any representative office should submit among its incorporation documents an obligation from the mother company acknowledge that they will set up a company or a branch in Egypt within three year of registering their representative office, or they will deregister it.

• • A. Personal Assistant:
    You should strongly consider hiring a qualified Egyptian assistant once you have finalized the incorporation process. If you are new to the country, it will take some time to understand the language, culture, and way of doing business in Egypt. Having a local individual present to assist you in day-to-day matters will save you a lot of time and a considerable amount of money.

    B. Company Office and Parking:
    When choosing an office location, you should ensure that there is ample parking at the location of your office. This is one of the most common problems, particularly in Cairo. Also, you should ensure that the unit is licensed to be used as an administrative office so that you can notarize the lease agreement later.

    C. Bank Account:
    While opening a local bank account is not mandatory for LLC companies, it is certainly better to have one in Egypt, as this will facilitate the payment of your governmental fees, such as the social insurance contribution, taxes, customs fees, etc.

    D. Social Insurance:
    You must comply with the social insurance regulations, meaning each hired employee should be registered immediately at the social insurance bureau, otherwise you’ll be liable to pay a hefty fine. You also must pay the monthly social insurance contribution to avoid any trouble with government authorities.

    E. Laws of Foreigners:
    From time to time, you should try to assess the Egyptian laws about foreigners and foreign investment for changes that could impact your company. Sometimes the government issues decrees or regulations on these aspects, and it would be better to know about them in good time so you can respond appropriately.

    F. Taxes:
    Never forget to track your tax records. Whether it’s a monthly income tax, the yearly tax return, or VAT declaration, all these aspects are extremely important. Ignoring tax implications, or assigning an unqualified person to handle them, could expose you to unexpected trouble that you don’t need.

    There are several different types of taxes in Egypt.
    The most important types are summarized in the table below:

    

It’s worth mentioning that Egypt has signed Double Taxation avoidance Agreements (DTA) with multiple countries, so if your country is mentioned in the table below, then you would be able to avoid the double taxation problem.

Double Taxation Agreements (DTA) between Egypt and the other countries

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• Note: this table was published before signing the new global tax agreement in October 2021. It will be updated once we analyze the impact of this agreement on the above-mentioned treatments.