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Saudi Arabia Taxation

Ownership decides everything: 20% CIT on the foreign share, 2.5% Zakat on the Saudi/GCC share, 15% VAT, plus withholding and phased FATOORA e-invoicing — a genuinely multi-layered regime.

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Headline rates

Saudi Arabia tax, at a glance.

Corporate income tax (non-Saudi/GCC ownership share)20%

Zakat (Saudi/GCC ownership share)2.5%

VAT15%

Figures mirror our tax-estimator data · Last reviewed: 7 July 2026 · Confirmed against primary sources at engagement time

What we file & when

Key Saudi Arabia filings.

Corporate income tax / Zakat returnTypically due within 120 days of the financial year-end.

VAT returnsMonthly or quarterly depending on turnover.

Withholding tax returnsMonthly, where payments to non-residents are in scope.

E-invoicing (FATOORA) compliancePhased technical requirements administered by ZATCA.

Typical deadlines under standard rules — actual dates shift with extensions, agent arrangements and entity type. We confirm your exact filing calendar at engagement.

Full tax scope

Everything under taxation.

The complete list — individual returns, corporate returns, registrations, indirect tax and disputes — delivered for Saudi Arabia through ZATCA.

Individual income tax returns

Personal tax returns for residents, non-residents and expats — employment, business, rental, investment and foreign income, filed correctly in each country you touch.

Corporate & company tax returns

Preparation and filing of company income tax returns — C-corps, limited companies, subsidiaries and branches — with workpapers that survive review.

Tax registrations

Getting you correctly registered wherever an obligation exists: federal and state registrations, VAT/GST numbers, employer accounts and e-filing portals.

Cross-border structuring & planning

Designing how your entities, contracts and cash flows sit across countries so you pay what the law requires — and not more.

Transfer pricing documentation

The intercompany pricing files (local file, master file, benchmarking) tax authorities demand when related companies trade with each other across borders.

Economic nexus & US state taxes

Working out where your sales or presence have quietly created a US state obligation — income, franchise and sales tax — then registering and filing where it matters.

Indirect tax — VAT / GST / sales tax

Registration, periodic returns and advisory for VAT, GST and sales-tax regimes in every market we cover.

Withholding tax & treaty relief

Getting cross-border payments (dividends, royalties, service fees) taxed at the correct treaty rate instead of the default — with the certificates to prove it.

Tax residency & permanent establishment

Advice on where you and your company are actually taxable — residency tests, PE risk from remote teams, and how to structure around both.

Expat & remote-founder tax

Coordinated home-and-host-country filings for founders and professionals living outside their passport country.

Advance / estimated tax computations

Quarterly and advance tax estimates so instalments are right-sized — no penalties, no interest-free loans to the government.

Tax notices, audits & disputes

Responses to authority notices, audit representation and appeals — measured where compliance is the answer, firm where the demand is wrong.

Tax due diligence

The tax workstream of a deal: exposures quantified, positions reviewed, and warranties negotiated with real numbers behind them.

Group tax reporting & deferred tax

Current and deferred tax provisions for financial statements, prepared to audit standard alongside our accounting advisory team.

How remote engagement works

Fully remote through ZATCA's online portals. Mixed-ownership calculations — CIT on the foreign share, Zakat on the Saudi/GCC share — are a core specialty, along with withholding tax on cross-border payments.

Pricing approach

Fixed annual fee for the CIT/Zakat return and VAT cycle; withholding and e-invoicing scopes priced per volume.

More Saudi Arabia services

GAAP / IFRS & Accounting Advisory Deal Advisory (M&A)Risk & Governance Bookkeeping & CAS Outsourced Controller FP&A & Fractional CFO

Taxation in other markets

Questions

Saudi Arabia tax — your questions

CIT or Zakat — which applies to us? +

Ownership decides: broadly, the non-Saudi/non-GCC share of profits bears 20% CIT while the Saudi/GCC share bears Zakat at 2.5% of the Zakat base. Mixed companies compute both.

Is the Zakat base just profit? +

No — Zakat is computed on a defined base that differs from accounting profit, which is why the calculation needs doing properly rather than approximating with 2.5% of net income.

What about paying suppliers abroad? +

Withholding tax applies to several categories of payments to non-residents, at rates depending on the payment type and any treaty — we review contracts before the money moves.

Do you handle e-invoicing compliance? +

Yes — FATOORA phase requirements are folded into the VAT engagement.

Can you work with our sponsor/local partner arrangements? +

Yes, discreetly and with the ownership mechanics reflected correctly in the CIT/Zakat split.

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