Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council has approved the proposed VAT Law on 13 July 2017. The approval follows the launch of a public consultation for the draft law in June by Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Zakat & Tax (GAZT). The text passed by the Shura Council is in line with the uniform VAT agreement between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

All six GCC countries signed the GCC VAT framework agreement in January 2017. Saudi Arabia is currently the only GCC country that has confirmed 1 January 2018 as the effective date for the VAT law.