The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has announced its plans to reclassify VAT violations and penalties associated with field detections concerning the taxpayer's failure to comply with tax payment. The initiative shall be implemented as of Sunday 30 January 2022. All penalties arising from field detection violations will be imposed progressively. The first step would be alerting the establishment and notifying the taxpayer of the violation without imposing any fines on first-time offenders. Fines are imposed only at the recurrence of the same violation. A grace period of no more than three months from the date of the commitment of the violation will be granted, to ensure that the violation has been corrected.

The Authority clarified that violations other than field detection violations are not covered by the decision. Non-covered violations include tax evasion, failure to file or delay in filing the tax returns, failure to and delay in payment of due taxes, and submission of false tax returns.

The Authority called on all its taxpayers to review the Simplified Guide on the Decision to Reclassify the Value-Added Tax Field Violations, available on ZATCA's website by clicking here. The Guide lists all violations and their penalties following reclassification.

In the meantime, ZATCA invites any person who wishes to know about the reclassification to reach out via its 24/7 call center hotline (19993), the Customer Care Twitter account (@Zatca_Care), via e-mail (info@zatca.gov.sa), or by instant messages on ZATCA's website (zatca.gov.sa).​