Saudi Arabia proposes amendments to the Income Tax Law

• Saudi Arabia's Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority has released proposed amendments to the Income Tax Law for public consultation.
  
  
• The proposed amendments to the Income Tax Law primarily relate to withholding tax applied on payments made to nonresidents.
  
  
• Public consultation on the proposed amendments is open until 25 October 2023.
   

Executive summary

On 25 September 2023, Saudi Arabia's Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) released a public consultation document (Amendment Document) proposing certain amendments to the Income Tax Law (ITL). The Amendment Document covers changes relating to Article 68 on withholding tax (WHT) and Article 16 on research and development expenses of the ITL.

The ZATCA has invited comments on the Amendment Document to be submitted by 25 October 2023.

Detailed discussion

Background

Since the issuance of the ITL and Income Tax Bylaws (ITBL) in 2004, WHT application on certain payments to nonresident parties has given rise to many disputes. The ZATCA has issued several guidelines and clarifications to address the issues and is currently working on improving the current regulations, including by releasing the Amendment Document for public consultation.

Issuance of the Amendment Document is intended to be in keeping with the Government of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, which seeks to create a welcoming economic environment and facilitate foreign investment.

Key highlights

The Amendment Document proposes the following:

1. Adding new clauses to Article 68 of the ITL, whereby the following payment categories should not be subject to WHT:

a. Payments of salaries and other similar benefits that an employer makes to its employees and to other individuals working for the employer under a contractual relationship that qualifies as an employee-employer relationship; bonus payments to board members or other employees in similar positions are classified as wages

b. Payments made to nonresident "transparent entities" to the extent of the share of income attributed to the resident person in Saudi Arabia

2. Changes to WHT relating to Article 68 (a) of the ITL, as follows:

a. WHT exemption on the payment of dividends by listed companies to nonresident shareholders, funds outside Saudi Arabia and issuance of bonus shares

b. Imposition of a 10% WHT on services-related payments to nonresidents (the Amendment Document mentions that the ITBL will provide the timeline for implementation and the exceptions to the WHT range)

c. Levy of a 5% WHT on payments for loan fees (interest) to related parties, including bonds and sukuk

3. Changes to the WHT tax rates table under Article 68 (a) of the ITL, propose to remove the following items:

Comments on the Amendment Document may include seeking further clarification on above proposed changes.

4. Changes to Article 16 of the ITL where the ITBL would govern the treatment of expenses relating to research, development and innovation

Implications

Taxpayers should review the proposed changes to the ITL to assess the potential impact to their business activities in Saudi Arabia.

For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:

Ernst & Young Professional Services (Professional LLC), Riyadh

• Asim Sheikh, Saudi Arabia Tax Market Segment Leader
  
  
• Ahmed H Akeel, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Amr Farouk, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Atif Khan, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Esraa Albuti, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Hosam Abdulkareem, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Imran Iqbal, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Mirza Ashraf, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Babar Ali, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Wissam Merhej, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Carl Suchtelen, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Roula Dajani, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Suleiman Mohammed, Global Compliance & Reporting

Ernst & Young Professional Services (Professional LLC), Jeddah

• Ayman Abu El lzz, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Hussain Asiri, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Amro El Fadly, Business Tax Advisory
  
  
• Ahmed Mubarak, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Dana D. Dandashi, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Khalid Feroze, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Asem Habis, Business Tax Services

Ernst & Young Professional Services (Professional LLC), Al Khobar

• Syed Farhan Zubair, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Ali K Khamis, Business Tax Services
  
  
• Bilal Mian, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Javed Aziz, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Haytham Hassan, Global Compliance & Reporting
  
  
• Waqas Khan, Business Tax Services

Ernst & Young LLP (United States), Middle East Tax Desk, New York

• Asmaa Ali

Published by NTD’s Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor

For a full listing of contacts and email addresses, please click on the Tax News Update: Global Edition (GTNU) version of this Alert.