Article 31 of the Saudi Value Added Tax Law

This article deals with special categories that the GCC Agreement specifies, and gives the Authority two powers regarding them:

1. Exemption from paying the tax when these categories receive goods and services in the Kingdom.
2. Allowing recovery of the tax that these categories bore on goods and services.

Conditions and limits of the article:

• The categories meant are only those specified in the Agreement; the article does not name them, so they are identified by referring to the Agreement.
• The wording "the Authority may" means this is a power exercised by the Authority, not an automatic right.
• It is done in accordance with the conditions and controls that the Regulations set.

Relation to other articles: it is followed by Article 32, which refers to the Regulations the conditions and controls for granting foreign governments, international organizations, bodies, and diplomatic, consular and military missions the right to apply to recover the tax they bore on goods and services in the Kingdom, and the conditions for applying the zero rate to supplies to these entities. The two articles both deal with recovery for particular entities, but this article concerns the categories specified in the Agreement, while that article names the entities it covers.

The article does not state recovery procedures, periods or required documents; these are in the Regulations. An entity that believes it falls within the categories specified in the Agreement is advised to verify this and consult a lawyer specializing in tax.