Saudi Arabia will start on Monday the implementation of VAT, according to the Unified VAT Agreement for The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.
The General Authority of Zakat and Tax (GAZT) has announced that the score of VAT registered-establishments is 90,000 establishments. Most of them are prepared to train employees, comply with the tax system, adopt the accounting system and information technology related to tax-operations in addition to managing records to maintain instruments in the determined application.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Commerce & Investment in cooperation with GAZT started monitoring markets and trade establishments all over the kingdom to control trade violations and price tampering and to follow-up on prices of basic goods.
GAZT launched a special application that comprises important information regarding the tax. The app informs the consumer whether the enterprise is registered in VAT or not. Also, it calculates the tax and offers notifications on violating enterprises.
GAZT provided all the required support through organizing more than 60 workshops. It also launched an e-platform specialized in VAT: VAT.GOV.SA. The platform provides a wide group of mechanisms and information on the tax so that they are used as a reference for the establishments, along with a guideline consisting of a simplified explanation of the basic principles of the VAT.
General Authority of Zakat and Tax underscored that tax-registered establishments should abide by the VAT in their invoices, warning that any un-registered establishment that issues a tax invoice will be fined a maximum of USD26.600. The authority called on establishments to adopt a clear bill that determines the goods and services excluded from VAT.
