Egypt introduced general sales tax (GST) in 1991. In the case of Egypt, GST does not stand for "goods and services tax", as it does in, for example, Australia and New Zealand, but is the abbreviation for general sales tax. In addition, the term "sales tax" does not refer to a retail tax, such as that applicable in the United States, or to a multi-stage type of cumulative turnover tax. By contrast, the Egyptian GST is a VAT type of tax. In the article, the author describes the most important features of Egypt's VAT.