“There is no amendment to the value added tax (VAT) except by law,” confirmed the Chairman of the Finance and Economic Affairs Committee in the parliament, MP Ahmed Al-Salloum, to various media today. 

He explained that the percentage of VAT (5%) was specified in the text of Article Three of Decree Law No. (48) of 2018. He noted that any desire to increase would require changing the legal article according to the available constitutional tools.

He added that Article Three stipulates that the tax shall be imposed at a basic rate of (5%) of the value of the import unless a special provision was made in the law. 

It is noteworthy that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia raised the VAT rate from 5% to 15% starting from the first of July 2020. It also decided to stop living allowance starting from June 2020. The UAE said that it didn’t intend to increase the VAT percentage. 

SOURCE: ALIBILAD