21-Jun-2022 Saudi Arabia VAT Updates on cancelling of fines and and financial penalties

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CA Amlesh Gupta

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has announced the relaunch of the "canceling of fines and and financial penalties imposed on taxpayers".

ZATCA Exempts Its Taxpayers from Fines and Financial Penalties

This scheme  shall be for six months, starting from June 1, 2022, to November 30, 2022, to reduce the economic effects resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses.

 

The announcement can be viewed here:-

 

The type of taxes, fines, penalties etc. covered by this scheme shall include the fines & penalties on account of:

  1. 1. Late Registration
  2. 2. Late Payment
  3. 3. Late Filing of VAT Returns 
  4. 4. Fines to correct VAT returns 
  5. 5. Fines for violations of VAT field control related to applying the e-invoicing regulations 
  6. 6. other general regulations related to VAT
  7.  

The Authority has also stated that in order to benefit from the scheme, it is necessary to:

  1. 1. Discharge all the outstanding obligations.
  2. 2. Pay all the outstanding dues
  3. 3. Register for VAT for non-registered entities who had to register earlier, and to submit all due returns and pay taxes
  4.  

Option also given to Taxpayer to request for making payment on an installment basis, provided that the request is submitted and approved by the Authority during the initiative, and to pay all due installments on their due time according to the ZATCA-approved installment plan.

 

The VAT Authority has also issued the simplified guideline, which includes a detailed explanation of the most important aspects of the decision, such as the types of penalties that are included in the decision, clarifying the conditions for benefiting from the exempt fines and the steps for payment of installment financial dues, as well as introducing the field control violations. 

 

Simplified guidelines can be viewed here

Further the Authority has confirmed that the scheme does not include penalties related to: 

  1. 1. Tax evasion violations, 
  2. 2. Fines paid before the initiative's effective date
  3. 3. Late payment fines related to the tax included in the installment plan that is due after the initiative's deadline of November 30, 2022.
  4.  

The Authority has urged all taxpayers to benefit from the scheme during the allotted time, which will ends on 30th November 2022. 

 

It's worth mentioning that the Authority has reclassified the VAT violations and penalties associated with field violations that result from the taxpayer's failure to comply with the duties and tax obligations at the beginning of this year, so that all penalties for field violations begin with alerting the establishment and informing the taxpayer before imposing any financial fines if the violation is committed for the first time.

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