Four ministries linked electronically to collect Zakat

The Director General of the Department of Zakat and Income Tax (DZIT) in Jeddah, Ahmad bin Obiad Al-Taifi, said the department will be linked electronically with four ministries by the end of this year. These are the Ministries of Labor, Interior, Municipality and Rural Affairs, and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“The object of this linkage is to monitor the commercial movements of a license holder and record his commercial registry,” Al-Taifi was quoted as saying to a local newspaper. He added that the procedure will guarantee that all data that DZIT needs, such as the number of workers on the business owner sponsorship and the other branches of his business, will be available to accurately calculate the sums he owes the department and insure collecting it properly.
As for the results aspired for the commercial registry’s owner once this linkage is done between the four ministries, Al-Taifi stressed the fact that it will eliminate the disparities and differences in the calculation of Zakat.
“The department will know for sure the number of workers at each business, the licenses in case workers left work or others joined the establishment, or if the registry’s owner closed or open more branches,” he explained, maintaining that this way Zakat calculations will be exact.
If a license holder refuses to deliver his share of the Zakat, the department will submit all data to the aforementioned ministries to stop any services they provide until all dues are paid.
“The main services that will be stopped include canceling work visas, removing the commercial registry and addressing the different government bodies to withhold any dues for his benefit,” he pointed out.
Once the department introduces a document stating that the person paid all his liabilities, he can resume his ordinary business activity.

DZIT has started earlier this month the application of the new electronic service within its system for the electronic handling of the necessary procedures such as the estimation of the Zakat incurred, and the automatic calculations of it for businesses and firms.