Article 49 of the Saudi Value Added Tax Law

This article guarantees the right to object to anyone about whom a decision has been issued by the Authority, which under the definitions in Article 1 is the General Authority of Zakat and Tax.

What does the article provide?

• Who may object: every person about whom the Authority has issued a decision. The text is general and does not limit the right to a particular type of decision.
• How to object: the objection is made in accordance with the working rules of the committees for resolving tax violations and disputes. The article refers to those rules and does not itself state the objection period, its procedures or the body to which it is submitted, so those rules must be consulted for the details.

Relation to adjacent articles: the article is in Chapter Seventeen on imposing penalties and considering violations. Article 48 explains that the Authority imposes penalties under a classification of violations issued by decision of the Board of Directors, taking proportionality into account, that a penalty is imposed by decision of the Governor of the Authority or whoever the Board of Directors authorizes, and that the operative part of a penalty decision may be published at the violator's expense after it becomes final. Article 50 provides that the Authority administers, examines, assesses and collects the tax.

The article was amended by Royal Decree No. (M/52) dated 28/4/1441 AH to take its current wording. Since the objection deadlines and procedures are governed by the committees' working rules, anyone about whom a decision has been issued is advised to see a lawyer or adviser specializing in tax disputes without delay.