Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Zakat and Tax has issued the updated Zakat Regulations in Arabic.

The Regulations are subject to certain exceptions, effective for financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2019 and supersede the provisions of all the previous Regulations and any conflicting circulars, instructions and Decisions.

The key changes include, amongst other things, new rules on how finance activities will be treated for Zakat purposes and a change to the Zakat rate applicable to the Zakat base. A permanent establishment of a non-resident Saudi or GCC national will be treated as a Zakat payer subject to a certain condition being met.