A Saudi company disagrees with a ZATCA tax assessment and wants to escalate its objection to the General Secretariat of Zakat, Tax and Customs Committees for an independent hearing, rather than simply accept ZATCA's own reconsideration of the objection. Under the Saudi tax dispute rules, within what period must the company first lodge its objection with ZATCA, and what must it additionally do to proceed to that escalation?
- It must object within 30 days of the assessment notification, and escalation requires paying the full disputed amount in advance, with no lower partial-payment option available
- It must object within 90 days of the assessment notification, and escalation requires no payment or guarantee at all, since the General Secretariat hears every escalated case free of any deposit condition
- It must object within 60 days of the assessment notification, and to escalate, it must either pay between 10% and 25% of the assessed amount or provide a financial guarantee of at least 50% of the assessed value
- It must object within 60 days of the assessment notification, and escalation is automatic and unconditional the moment ZATCA's own reconsideration is rejected, with no separate payment or guarantee step involved
Why C? And why not the others?
Correct answer: C. It must object within 60 days of the assessment notification, and to escalate, it must either pay between 10% and 25% of the assessed amount or provide a financial guarantee of at least 50% of the assessed value
A company must lodge its objection with ZATCA within 60 days of being notified of the assessment, and if it wants to escalate an unfavorable outcome to the General Secretariat of Zakat, Tax and Customs Committees, it must either pay between 10% and 25% of the assessed amount or post a financial guarantee worth at least 50% of the assessed value before the escalation proceeds. The option citing a 30-day window and demanding full advance payment overstates both figures: the objection period is 60 days, not 30, and no rule requires paying the entire disputed amount upfront. The option citing a 90-day window and no payment or guarantee condition conflates the objection deadline with ZATCA's separate 90-day timeline for responding to an objection, and wrongly denies that any payment-or-guarantee condition gates escalation. The option getting the 60-day window right but describing escalation as automatic and cost-free ignores the payment-or-guarantee requirement that is actually what conditions access to the General Secretariat.
Source: Zakat, Tax and Customs Procedures Law and its Implementing Regulations; ZATCA objection and General Secretariat of Zakat, Tax and Customs Committees escalation procedure (zatca.gov.sa)