The volume of tax and Zakat revenues has so far reached SR 21.5 billion and poised to hit SR27 billion mark by the end of the year, a senior official of Tax and Income Dept told local media.

Deputy General Director of the Dept for Support Services Salih Al-Awaji, who was speaking on the sidelines of the launch ceremony of e-Zakat declaration service (version 2) for companies, said the growth rate of revenues grew by 20 percent annually during the last five years.

He, however, ruled out that the current labor correction campaign will push up the rates of revenues considerably on the fact that the correction campaign is directed at small-scale firms.

Each of the firm needs one full year to be included in the new system and its share of Zakat considered, accordingly, he said.

He said Tax and Zakat Dept has strong cooperation with the Customs Dept to obtain the imports data and the Ministry of Finance on contracts signed with companies which, he said, will help in calculating Zakat shares due to these firms.

He also stressed the need to open partnership with the accountancy offices.

The launch of e-zakat declaration service (version 2) complements the first stage of the e-services project which covered registration services, e-zakat estimates (5) and approval of Zakat certificate and its delivery to the concerned companies through express mail.

Earlier, Tax and Income Dept has ordered all the concerned firms to provide their estimated Zakat shares through the Dept’s e-portal prior to approval and sending them back through Saudi Postal Dept.

The e-portal system of Tax and Income Dept can now serve 80 percent of its electronically-linked clients.

The estimated zakat certificates are being verified with government agencies whereby Zakat ratio is calculated and sent back to a certain firm electronically to pay the prescribed amount, the Dept officials said.

After payment, the zakat certificate is printed and sent to the firm via the Saudi Postal Dept, they said.