The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has seconded its invitation to all taxpayers of the business sector subject to the tax laws to benefit from cancellation of fines and exemption of penalties before the end of the initiative's third phase. The ZATCA initiative aims to mitigate the financial and economic impact on the private sector as a result of the measures taken to counter the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The initiative received a six months extension period as of 21st of January to the 30^th of June.

The cancellation of fines and exemption of penalties initiative includes exempting taxpayers from late payment fines, filing tax return delay fines as set out in all tax laws, and tax return correction fines set out in VAT Law. The fines are associated with tax returns that should be filed and/or paid to the Authority before the end of the extension period.

ZATCA stated that the extension of the initiative involves three phases. The first phase ended at the end of March, the second phase ended at the end of May, and the third phase starts this June and ends at the end of June. During this last phase, taxpayers shall be exempt from 50% of the fines.

ZATCA has urged taxpayers of the business sector subject to the tax laws to review the initiative details and content in the Initiative Guide at the Authority's website (gazt.gov.sa), by clicking here.

In the meantime, ZATCA invites people who wish to learn more about the initiative to reach out via its 24/7 call center hotline (19993), the Customer Care Twitter account (@Gazt_care), by e-mail (info@gazt.gov.sa), or by instant messages on ZATCA's website (gazt.gov.sa).​