A VAT return is a summary of what your ledger already knows. Everything difficult about filing happens before the portal is open — which is why the most useful thing in this guide is the closing checklist rather than the box list.
How often, and by when
Businesses with annual taxable supplies above SAR 40 million file monthly; everyone else files quarterly. The return and the payment share one deadline: the last day of the month following the end of the period. Filing on time and paying late is still late.
The sixteen boxes
| Box | What goes in it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Standard-rated sales at 15% | Invoices at the standard rate |
| 2 | Sales to customers in other GCC states | Display only — not in the calculation |
| 3 | Zero-rated domestic sales | Medicines, qualifying metals, private education and healthcare for citizens, and the rest |
| 4 | Exports | Zero-rated supplies outside the Kingdom |
| 5 | Exempt sales | Exempt supplies, with their reason codes |
| 6 | Total sales | Calculated |
| 7 | Standard-rated domestic purchases | Supplier invoices at 15% |
| 8 | Imports subject to VAT paid at customs | Customs declarations against your VAT number |
| 9 | Imports accounted for through the reverse charge | Output and input together — nets to zero |
| 10 | Zero-rated purchases | Purchases at 0% |
| 11 | Exempt purchases | Purchases with no recoverable tax |
| 12 | Total purchases | Calculated |
| 13 | Total VAT due for the current period | Calculated |
| 14 | Corrections from a previous period | Up to SAR 15,000 either way |
| 15 | VAT credit carried forward from previous periods | Brought forward |
| 16 | Net VAT due (or claimed) | Calculated |
Closing the period
Five things should be true before anyone opens the portal:
- Every invoice and note for the period is approved and dated inside it — drafts do not reach the return.
- Every one of them is cleared or reported at ZATCA. Nothing is left sitting at Rejected or Not sent.
- Every supplier invoice whose VAT you intend to deduct is entered, with the supplier's VAT number on it.
- Bank accounts are reconciled and foreign-currency balances revalued.
- The period is locked once you have filed, so nothing back-dates into a return you have already submitted.
Corrections
An error whose net effect is SAR 15,000 or less is corrected without penalty in box 14 of a later return — the limit was SAR 5,000 until the April 2025 amendment to Article 63. Anything larger is corrected by amending the earlier return on the ZATCA portal — and the sooner it is, the better it goes: a correction you bring forward is treated very differently from one an assessment finds.
Questions people actually ask
What if I have nothing to declare?
A nil return is still a return, and it is still due on the same date. Not filing is a separate breach from not paying.
Can I carry a credit balance forward?
Yes — it carries into the next period automatically, or you can request a refund. Carrying forward is the simpler route when you expect to be in a payable position soon.
Where these facts come from
Checked against the following on 12 September 2026. Rules and dates change — if you are reading this long after that date, verify before you act on it.
WisoBooks is a bookkeeping and business-management tool, not an accounting, tax or legal advisor. Nothing on this page is tax advice, and tax rules change. Confirm your own obligations with the relevant authority or a qualified advisor.
