The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) urges all taxpayers subject to tax laws to take advantage of the Cancellation of Fines and Exemption of Financial Penalties Initiative. Last November, ZATCA announced the extension of the Initiative for another six months until 31 May 2023.

According to ZATCA, the Initiative exempts taxpayers from fines for late registration in all tax laws, delayed payment, overdue tax return filing in all tax laws, VAT return correction, and field detection of violations of e-invoicing and VAT.

ZATCA added that the taxpayer must be tax-law registered, file all due tax returns with ZATCA, and settle the tax liability of all pending tax returns in full to be eligible for the Initiative. Any taxpayer who wishes to pay their tax liability in instalments may do so by submitting a request to ZATCA within the Initiative's validity term, with the understanding that any outstanding instalments must be paid by the due dates established by ZATCA. Tax evasion fines and fines paid before the Initiative's validity term are not included, as confirmed by ZATCA.

ZATCA has urged all taxpayers to review the Initiative details via the Initiative Simplified Guide available on its website, which includes a detailed explanation of the most notable points mentioned in the Initiative extension decision, such as the clarification of the types of fines included, terms of exemption, instalment plans of financial dues, and introduction of field detection violations included in the Initiative along with explanatory examples.

ZATCA called on all taxpayers to benefit from the Initiative extension until the end of the extension term in May, and to contact the Authority with any inquiries via its 24/7 call center hotline (19993), Customer Care Twitter account (@Zatca_Care), via e-mail (info@zatca.gov.sa), or by instant messages on ZATCA's website (zatca.gov.sa).

It is worth noting that ZATCA relaunched its efforts to lessen the financial and economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak and its aftereffects from the start of June 2022, and this Initiative is a continuation of those efforts.​