Article 19 of the Saudi Real Estate Transaction Tax Law

This article contains two provisions that ensure the Law is applied in practice:

1. Government coordination: the Authority may coordinate with government bodies on everything related to implementing the provisions of the Law and the Implementing Regulations.
2. No notarization before payment: every person authorized to notarize real estate transactions under the laws in force in the Kingdom must not notarize any real estate transaction whose due tax was not paid at the date of notarization.

But this prohibition applies without prejudice to the provision of paragraph (2) of Article 5, which exceptionally allows the tax to be paid after the date of the transaction in cases set by the Implementing Regulations. The rule is that the tax is paid before or at the time of notarization, as paragraph (1) of Article 5 provides, and the notary does not notarize a transaction whose tax was not paid, except in cases where the Implementing Regulations allow later payment.

The practical meaning for someone selling or transferring ownership of a property: unless the case is one of the later-payment cases set by the Implementing Regulations, paying the tax is in practice a condition for completing notarization. This article follows Article 18, which assigns monitoring and inspection to employees named by the Governor, and precedes Article 20, which regulates the issuing of the Implementing Regulations and the entry into force of the Law.

Anyone whose transaction was refused notarization because of the tax and who believes their case falls within the exception should consult a lawyer specialized in real estate and tax matters.