Tax incentives for new businesses in Algeria: Law 22-18, AAPI registration, startups, ANADE

Four sources of incentives

Each scheme has its own conditions and its own office. The table sums up what each one gives, as the texts stand on 30 October 2026. When another text grants an incentive of the same kind as Law 22-18, the two do not add up: the investment gets the more favourable one (Law 22-18, art. 35).

Law 22-18: what it exempts

Law 22-18 of 24 July 2022 covers investment in producing goods and services: starting an activity, expanding or upgrading one, taking a stake in a company, or relocating an activity from abroad. At your request, the investment falls under one of three schemes. All three grant the same incentives during the build-out phase, while you buy and install. They differ in how long the tax exemption lasts once the business is running.

These articles name IBS, the tax on company profits. They do not mention IRG, the income tax paid by sole traders. If you set up as a sole trader, ask the one-stop shop which operating incentive applies to you.

You have 3 years to carry out the investment, or 5 years under the zones and structuring schemes. The period runs from registration, or from the building permit when one is needed. It can be extended by 12 months once you have spent more than 20% of the planned amount, then by another 12 months, as an exception, past 50%. You file the request between 3 months before and 3 months after the deadline.

The three schemes and their conditions

The sectors scheme

It covers investment in the following fields, minus the activities excluded by Executive Decree 22-300 (see below):

• Mining and quarrying.
• Farming, aquaculture and fishing.
• Industry, food processing, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals.
• Services and tourism.
• New and renewable energy.
• The knowledge economy and information and communication technology.

The zones scheme

It applies to projects carried out in the municipalities listed by Executive Decree 22-301 of 8 September 2022, in three annexes:

• High Plateaus, the South and the Far South: every municipality in 9 Far South wilayas (Adrar, Illizi, Tamanghasset, Tindouf, Timimoun, In Salah, Djanet, In Guezzam, Bordj Badji Mokhtar), 11 South wilayas (Biskra, Béchar, El Oued, Ghardaïa, Laghouat, Ouargla, El Meghaier, El Meniaa, Ouled Djellal, Béni Abbès, Touggourt) and 9 High Plateau wilayas (Batna, Djelfa, El Bayadh, Khenchela, M'Sila, Naâma, Saïda, Tébessa, Tiaret), plus named municipalities in 10 other wilayas.
• Municipalities whose development needs special State support.
• Municipalities with natural resources to develop.

The last two lists also include northern municipalities. For the wilaya of Algiers, annex III (mineral resources) names twelve: Aïn Benian, Baba Hassen, Bains Romains, Bouzaréah, Dely Brahim, El Achour, El Harrach, El Magharia, El Marsa, Oued Koriche, Raïs Hamidou and Reghaïa. Look up your municipality in the decree before you pick a scheme.

The structuring investments scheme

It is meant for very large projects: at least 500 direct jobs and at least 10 billion DA of investment. Registration requires a technical and economic study. The build-out incentives can pass to the contractors who build the project on the investor's behalf, and the State can fund part or all of the site and infrastructure works, under an agreement approved by the government. The exclusion lists of Decree 22-300 do not apply to this scheme.

How the AAPI sets the length of the IBS exemption

You do not choose the length: the AAPI works it out. Once your purchases are done, you ask for the official report recording the start of operations, at the one-stop shop or on the digital platform, and the agency issues it within 30 days. This report is compulsory and sets a minimum period for your scheme. Three months before that minimum period ends, you ask for the final length and attach a CNAS statement showing how your headcount has changed. The agency scores the project with the grid for its scheme and notifies its decision within 7 days. In the Far South there is no grid: the length is 10 years.

The first four criteria score 2.5 to 10 by band. Technology input is worth up to 10 points: 3 for a training unit, 3 for a research unit, 3 for a patent or licence and 1 for a university agreement. Each score is multiplied by its weight. Up to 50 points, the exemption lasts 3 years. Above 50 and up to 75 points, it lasts 4 years, and above 75 points, 5 years. Under the zones scheme the grids run from 5 to 10 years, and for the High Plateaus and the South the location carries the most weight (6).

Made-up example: a workshop costing 80 million DA, 40% funded by equity, with 12 jobs, 20% local purchases and a training unit. It scores 5 + 10 + 15 + 10 + 3 = 43 points, so 3 years of IBS exemption. With 60 jobs instead of 12, it reaches 50.5 points and 4 years.

What Decree 22-300 excludes

Executive Decree 22-300 of 8 September 2022 sets out the exclusion lists. The following cannot use the sectors and zones schemes:

• Activities taxed under any regime other than actual profits: the IFU flat-rate regime, and therefore auto-entrepreneur status, is excluded.
• Activities that are not entered in the trade register, unless they are carried on in a form that requires registration.
• Activities with their own incentive scheme, or placed outside Law 22-18 by another law.
• The activities in annex I: all wholesale trade, all retail trade, every form of import, crafts practised on the move, at markets or at home, traditional crafts and art crafts, and a long list of services.
• For the sectors scheme only, the activities in annex II, including some mineral and sand extraction, brick, tile and ceramic making (with exceptions), internet voice services, mobile top-up sales, telecom equipment maintenance and property brokerage.

The annex I services include, for example, restaurants and fast food (except chains and starred restaurants), cafés, craft bakeries, vehicle hire, passenger transport, driving schools, advertising, legal advice, accounting, market research, secretarial work, call centres, estate agencies and hairdressing. Some lines carry exceptions, for instance for the South, Far South and High Plateau wilayas. An excluded activity is still allowed; it simply gets none of these incentives.

Even in an eligible project, some goods get no incentive:

• Anything that is not a fixed asset, such as stock, unless the decree says otherwise.
• Second-hand equipment, production lines included, except refurbished equipment contributed when an activity relocates from abroad.
• Vehicles carrying goods or people for the company's own needs, except listed cases (brickworks, cement works, quarries, construction).
• Office and communication equipment not used directly in production, although computer equipment stays eligible.
• Returnable packaging, staff welfare equipment, and general fittings and fixtures, except for rated hotels and restaurants, accommodation, worker camps and business and office spaces.

Registering with the AAPI: when, where and what to file

When

Before you carry out the investment, which means before you buy the goods and services you want the incentive for. For a new business, the company does not need to exist yet: your identity document is enough to register. You can only use the incentives once the company is on the trade register and has a tax identification number (NIF).

Where

• At the AAPI's local one-stop shop, for most projects.
• At the one-stop shop for major projects and foreign investment, which covers the whole country, for projects of 2 billion DA or more and for projects whose capital is held, even partly, by foreigners who benefit from the transfer guarantee.
• Online, on the investor's digital platform run by the AAPI.

You file in person, or through a representative holding a power of attorney on the decree's model, with a certified signature.

Documents

What you receive and what it costs

The one-stop shop issues a registration certificate on the spot, with the list of eligible goods and services stamped on every page. Customs, the tax office and other departments must accept these documents. A refusal must give reasons, and an error or omission in the request can be corrected there and then with your consent. To buy free of VAT, you need an authorisation that the AAPI issues within 72 hours on a pro forma invoice. Imported goods on the list do not need it.

You pay the fee to the AAPI, for the Treasury. It is waived when the agency corrects an error or omission that is not your fault.

After registration: your obligations

• Each year, file a progress report on the project with the AAPI, signed and stamped by the tax office, within 30 days of their signature. If you file nothing, the agency sends a formal notice within 8 days. You then have 15 days to explain, or the certificate is cancelled.
• Ask for the start-of-operations report no later than the end of the build-out period. After that, the agency sends a formal notice and cancels the certificate if you do not respond within 60 days.
• Do not sell an asset bought with incentives without AAPI approval until it is fully depreciated. An approved sale means paying back the incentives in proportion to the remaining depreciation. A sale without approval cancels them.
• Keep the headcount that set the length of your incentives: the CNAS (salaried workers' social security fund) checks it throughout the operating phase.
• If you also run activities that are not eligible, keep accounts that show the turnover and profit of the eligible ones separately.

If you breach these duties, the AAPI withdraws some or all of the incentives once a formal notice has gone unanswered for 15 days, and withdrawal of operating incentives means repaying everything already used. You can challenge a decision before the High National Commission for Investment Appeals within 2 months of being notified, and it rules within a month. You can also go to court.

Start-up and project labels

A business that gets the 'start-up' label from the national labelling committee is exempt from IRG, IBS or IFU, depending on its tax regime, for 4 years from the date of the label. Since the 2026 Finance Law, the exemption runs 2 more years if the label is renewed, and the text covers individuals as well as companies. Equipment used directly in the project is free of VAT and pays 5% customs duty, from a list approved by the committee. The 'projet innovant' label, for a project not yet set up as a company, exempts the company formation deed from all registration duties.

ANADE and ANGEM

If you start your business with support from ANADE (formerly ANSEJ), ANGEM (microcredit) or CNAC for the files it still handles, the tax code exempts the activity from IRG or IBS for 3 years from the start of operations, 6 years in a development zone, and 10 years in a southern zone supported by the South and High Plateaus fund. You get 2 more years if you commit to hiring at least 3 staff on permanent contracts. If you break that commitment, the tax office claims the tax back. The company formation deed is free of all registration duties. Age limits, personal contribution and loans are covered in the guide to support schemes.

The South and the High Plateaus

Three texts in force favour projects in the South and the High Plateaus:

• The zones scheme of Law 22-18: IBS exempt for 5 to 10 years according to the grid, and 10 years outright in the Far South.
• A 50% cut in IRG or IBS for individuals and companies whose tax address is in, and who are permanently based in, 9 Far South wilayas (Illizi, Tindouf, Adrar, Tamanghasset, Timimoun, Bordj Badji Mokhtar, In Salah, In Guezzam, Djanet), for 5 years from 1 January 2025.
• For projects backed by ANADE, ANGEM or CNAC: 10 years of exemption in a southern zone supported by the fund, and a lower personal contribution with ANADE (12% in specific zones and the High Plateaus, 10% in the South).

What Neuron does, and what it does not

Neuron does not prepare AAPI registration, label or funding files, and does not promise any incentive: the agency, the committee or the tax office decides. Neuron handles what the incentives depend on: setting up the company through to the trade register and the NIF, and its registered office address. Full support with company formation costs 50,000 DA for a sole trader and 60,000 DA for a company, official fees excluded, with 10,000 DA off if your registered address is with Neuron. From abroad, it costs 70,000 DA and 80,000 DA, with the same discount. A registered address in Dely Brahim costs 6,000 DA a month, under a notarised contract of one or two years.