Starting a business in Saudi Arabia

The registrations and deadlines a small business here has to meet, and the paperwork it has to produce: commercial registration renewal, whether VAT registration is required, which e-invoicing wave applies, import duty and VAT on a shipment, plus invoices, quotations and an IBAN checker. Free, and everything runs in your browser.

Commercial Registration Renewal — When a Saudi commercial registration can be renewed and when it must be — 90 days before expiry, 90 days of grace after, and why that grace is not an extension. Free, in your browser.
Do I Need to Register for VAT? — Find out whether VAT registration is mandatory, optional, or not required — on the test ZATCA actually applies rather than the one people assume. It is any twelve consecutive months, not your calendar year, so the clock may have started months before you noticed; and expecting to cross in the year ahead makes registration due now. Exempt supplies do not count towards the threshold while zero-rated ones do. When you have crossed, it shows the month it happened and the date you have to register by.
Which E-Invoicing Wave Am I In? — Find which ZATCA e-invoicing wave your business falls into and by when it must be integrated with Fatoora. Two things about the rule catch people out: the threshold is met if ANY ONE of 2022, 2023 or 2024 crossed it, so a good 2022 followed by two quiet years still counts; and a bigger business has an EARLIER deadline, because the waves started at SAR 3 billion and step down. ZATCA notifies each taxpayer directly at least six months ahead, and that letter is the official trigger.
Invoice QR Reader — Photograph a receipt, or paste its QR text, and read what the invoice says: the seller, their VAT registration number, when it was issued, the total and the VAT. It also checks the arithmetic — a standard-rated sale whose VAT is not 15% of the pre-VAT amount is worth a second look. Everything happens on your device. It reads the invoice; it does not verify the signature, which needs ZATCA own certificates.
Invoice Generator — Create a bilingual (AR/EN) SAR invoice with line items, automatic 15% Saudi VAT and the total in Arabic words. Print or save as PDF; nothing uploaded.
Quotation & Receipt — Write a quotation, a proforma invoice or a payment receipt, bilingual and ready to print or save as PDF. Line items, 15% VAT, your terms, and the fields each document actually needs. It says plainly what these are not: neither is a tax invoice.
Import Duty & VAT — What a parcel from abroad really costs — duty on the CIF value, the 15% VAT that applies at any value even under the SAR 1,000 exemption, and why the rates do not add to 20%. Free, in your browser.
IBAN Validator — Validate an IBAN (ISO 7064 mod-97), enforce the Saudi SA + 22-digit format, group it in fours and identify the bank — in your browser, never sent anywhere.
Short Address Checker — Check a Saudi National Address short code — four letters then four digits, like RRRD2929 — before you put it on a shipment. It catches the ways that goes wrong (digits typed first, a space in the middle, a zero read as an O, Arabic-Indic numerals) and explains what each part means. Format only: only Saudi Post can turn a code into a street.
GOSI & Net Salary — Work out your real GOSI deduction and your take-home pay. Contributions are charged on basic salary plus housing allowance only — not transport, phone, commission or bonus — and stop at SAR 45,000 a month, which is why "just take 10% of your salary" is wrong for anyone with allowances. It also knows there are two systems: anyone registered before 3 July 2024 stays on the old rates, while the newer scheme rises half a point every July. A non-Saudi employee has nothing deducted at all.

Starting a business in Saudi Arabia

Other categories