Egypt e-invoice and e-receipt: a practical guide

At a glance

Authority

Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA)

Legal basis

Unified Tax Procedures Law No. 206 of 2020 and its executive regulations

E-invoice

Business and government sales. Each invoice is signed, sent to ETA and validated.

E-receipt

Sales to consumers. Rolled out in phases to taxpayers named in ETA decisions.

Item codes

Every line needs an approved GS1 or EGS code

Where to check

eta.gov.eg and the ETA e-receipt inquiry page

Who must comply

Egypt began rolling out the e-invoice system in 2020 and extended it in phases until it reached registered businesses broadly. If you are registered with ETA and you invoice other businesses or government bodies, assume the e-invoice applies to you.

The e-receipt is separate. It covers sales to end consumers, and ETA brings taxpayers in through numbered phases. Each phase is set by a decision of the Head of the Authority with an attached list of named taxpayers and a live date. For example, Decision No. 281 of 2025 required the taxpayers on its list to issue e-receipts from 15 September 2025, and Decision No. 361 of 2025 set 15 November 2025 for the next group.

Many businesses need both systems. A company that sells to other companies and also to walk-in customers issues e-invoices for the first group and e-receipts for the second.

How the e-invoice works

An Egyptian e-invoice is a structured document, not a PDF. Your system builds it, signs it and sends it to ETA, which checks it and gives it an identity. The flow looks like this:

1. Register

   Register the company on the ETA e-invoice portal and set up the ERP system that will submit on your behalf.

2. Get a signing certificate

   Obtain an e-seal or e-signature certificate from a licensed provider. Every invoice is signed with it before submission.

3. Code your items

   Map each product and service to an approved GS1 or EGS code. Invoices with unknown codes fail validation.

4. Issue and sign

   Your system builds the invoice, converts it to a canonical form, hashes it and signs it (ETA's specification uses a CAdES-BES signature).

5. Submit

   The signed document goes to ETA through its API. ETA assigns a UUID that identifies the document from then on.

6. Validate

   ETA checks structure, taxpayer data, codes, totals and the signature, then marks the document valid or invalid.

7. Share

   Once valid, the invoice is visible to your customer through the ETA system. Your copy should carry the UUID.

Submit as you invoice, not in month-end batches. ETA checks issue dates against the submission window it allows, and late documents are refused.

Item codes: GS1 and EGS

Every invoice line needs an item code ETA recognizes. There are two kinds.

• GS1: the global barcode standard. If your products already carry GS1 barcodes, you can use them.
• EGS: your own internal codes, registered with ETA. An EGS code follows the pattern EG, then your tax registration number, then your internal code. Each one is linked to a level 4 GPC category, and an ETA employee approves the request before you can use it.

Most service businesses and many traders use EGS codes. Plan time for approval: request codes for new items before the first sale, not on the day of the invoice.

Valid, invalid, canceled, rejected

After submission a document has a status, and each status means something different for your books.

• Valid: accepted by ETA. This is the only status that counts as an issued invoice.
• Invalid: failed validation. Fix the cause and submit a new document.
• Canceled: the issuer withdrew a valid document to correct an error spotted right away. Cancellation is allowed only within a period ETA sets for each document type.
• Rejected: the recipient refused the document, again only within the allowed period and only once.

When the period has passed, you cannot cancel. ETA's guidance is to issue a credit note that references the original invoice. If a credit note already references an invoice, the credit note has to be canceled first.

The e-receipt for consumer sales

The e-receipt brings retail and consumer sales into the same digital record. It works differently from the e-invoice in a few important ways.

• No electronic signature: receipts do not need an e-seal.
• 24 hours: receipts must reach ETA within 24 hours of issue. The Head of the Authority can change this period by decision.
• Offline is allowed: a till can keep issuing receipts without internet and send them in a batch once it reconnects, within the same period.
• Chained receipts: each receipt carries the UUID of the previous receipt from the same point of sale, so gaps and edits show up.
• Returns: to cancel a sale or record a return, issue a return receipt that references the original receipt's UUID.
• Same item codes: receipts use the same GS1 and EGS codes as invoices.
• Registered points of sale: each till is registered with ETA, and ETA publishes a list of approved point of sale device suppliers.

Taxpayers named in recent phase decisions were also asked to register on ETA's consumer incentive program portal, known as Fatortak. Check the decision that names you for the full list of obligations.

Readiness checklist

• Company registered on the ETA e-invoice portal, with an authorized representative on file
• Valid e-seal or e-signature certificate from a licensed provider, with a renewal date in the calendar
• Every active product and service mapped to an approved GS1 or EGS code
• Customer records hold correct tax registration numbers and addresses
• Your system submits automatically and shows each document's ETA status and UUID
• A daily check for invalid or rejected documents, with a named owner
• Credit notes, not edits, used to correct valid invoices
• If you sell to consumers: checked the ETA e-receipt inquiry page for your name
• Each till registered, able to work offline and send within 24 hours
• Returns issued as return receipts that reference the original UUID

Common mistakes

• Treating the PDF as the invoice. The legal document is the valid record on ETA's system. A printed invoice without a valid UUID is not enough.
• Batching at month end. Documents fall outside the allowed window, and the team fixes a pile of errors under deadline pressure.
• Inventing item codes. Using an EGS code before ETA approves it causes invalid documents.
• Wrong buyer details. A wrong tax number is the classic reason for cancellation. Validate customer data when the customer is created, not at invoicing.
• Editing instead of correcting. Once the cancellation period is over, only a credit note fixes a valid invoice.
• Letting the certificate expire. Submissions stop the day the certificate lapses.
• Separate systems for tills and books. When receipts and invoices live in different tools, totals drift and month-end reconciliation becomes a project.

Sources

1. ETA e-invoicing SDK: Cancel Document API
2. ETA e-invoicing SDK: Reject Document API
3. ETA e-invoicing SDK: Signature creation
4. ETA e-invoicing SDK: Create EGS code usage
5. ETA: E-receipt FAQ (Arabic, PDF)
6. ETA: E-receipt services and inquiry page (Arabic)
7. Maspero: ETA Decision No. 281 of 2025 on the e-receipt (Arabic)
8. Al Bawaba News: ETA Decision No. 361 of 2025 on the e-receipt (Arabic)

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Rules, thresholds and dates change. Confirm the requirements that apply to your business with the authority or a qualified tax adviser before you act.