Do you work fractional, interim or on a project?

All three. Fractional is a few days a month on an ongoing basis, interim is full-time for a fixed term, and a project is a fixed-scope build or raise. We pick whatever fits the problem.

Fractional work is a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days, so you can budget it. Interim is a market day rate for a fixed term. Builds and raises are a fixed quote once I've scoped the problem. Every engagement starts with a scoped proposal, so you see the number and exactly what it covers before you commit to anything. No open-ended retainers.

I'm already in Riyadh, so there's no relocation or visa wait. I can usually start a new engagement within about 30 days.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. I'm in the Kingdom for on-site work across the GCC, and happy to deliver remotely. Whatever the engagement needs.

Who owns the systems you build?

You do. I scope, architect and govern, engineers build, and the IP and the running system are yours, documented and handed over.

Do you handle Zakat, VAT and withholding tax?

Yes. Tax sits inside the core work, not beside it: registrations and filings, provisions in the accounts, ZATCA e-invoicing readiness, and planning ahead of deadlines rather than reacting to them. My background covers tax compliance ownership for multi-site groups and tax planning across large project portfolios.

Do you work with family groups and private equity portfolio companies?

Yes. Family groups and family offices are a large part of my work, and private-equity-backed companies bring me in as a part-time CFO between raises or through transitions. Board packs, lender reporting and diligence-ready numbers are the usual asks.

Which sectors do you know?

Media and entertainment, real estate, manufacturing, FMCG and logistics. I also work with family groups preparing for institutional capital.

What is the difference between zakat and corporate tax in Saudi Arabia?

Zakat is a 2.5% Islamic levy on the share of a company owned by Saudi and GCC nationals. Corporate income tax is 20% on the share owned by non-GCC foreign investors. A mixed-ownership company pays both, split by the ownership percentages.

Do GCC nationals pay zakat or corporate tax in Saudi Arabia?

GCC nationals are treated the same as Saudi nationals, so their ownership share falls under zakat at 2.5%, not corporate income tax. Only ownership by a person or company from outside the GCC brings the 20% corporate tax into play.

How is zakat calculated for a company in Saudi Arabia?

Zakat is 2.5% of the zakat base, built from capital, retained earnings and reserves, less deductible items such as fixed assets and long-term investments. It tracks the balance sheet rather than profit, so a company with modest profit can still carry a sizeable zakat base.

Zakat vs corporate income tax in Saudi Arabia explained

Zakat or corporate income tax in Saudi Arabia depends on ownership: Saudi and GCC shares pay 2.5% zakat, non-GCC foreign shares pay 20% corporate tax, and mixed companies pay both. How the split works, with a worked example. From a finance leader in Riyadh.

Two companies sit on the same street in Riyadh. Same business, same profit, same balance sheet. One pays tax at 2.5%. The other pays at 20%. Nothing about what they do explains the gap. The only difference is who owns them.

That is the first thing a foreign investor has to understand about Saudi tax: your rate is set by your shareholders, not your P&L.

The rule

Saudi Arabia runs two systems side by side. The share of a company owned by Saudi and GCC nationals falls under zakat, an Islamic levy, at 2.5%. The share owned by anyone outside the GCC falls under corporate income tax at 20%. GCC nationals count as Saudi for this, so a Kuwaiti or Emirati shareholder sits on the zakat side of the line.

A fully Saudi company pays zakat. A fully foreign company pays corporate tax. A mixed company pays both, split by ownership.

The mistake people make with the base

Zakat and corporate tax are not two rates applied to the same profit. They start from different places.

Zakat is 2.5% of the zakat base, which is built from capital, retained earnings and reserves, less the fixed assets and long-term investments the rules let you deduct. It tracks your balance sheet, not just your profit. A company can post a modest profit and still carry a large zakat base, or the reverse.

Corporate tax is 20% of net adjusted profit, closer to the income number you would expect. Two different starting points, two different calculations, and only then does ownership split them.

A worked example

Take a company owned 65% by Saudi shareholders and 35% by a foreign parent. Say the zakat base works out to SAR 4 million and taxable profit to SAR 5 million.

Zakat: 2.5% of SAR 4 million, times the 65% Saudi share, is SAR 65,000.
Corporate tax: 20% of SAR 5 million, times the 35% foreign share, is SAR 350,000.

Total to ZATCA: SAR 415,000, from one company filing on both sides of the line. Change the ownership split and both numbers move.

Why this is a structuring decision

The ownership mix is a tax lever, and most foreign investors never see it. Bring a GCC partner into the cap table and you move part of your base off the 20% corporate rate and onto the 2.5% zakat side. That does not make a partner the right call on its own. Ownership carries control, profit share and exit consequences that dwarf the tax line. The tax effect is still real, and it belongs in the decision when you choose the structure for the entity, not as a surprise at the first filing.

What you actually file

A mixed company does not file one blended return. It files a zakat computation for the local share and a corporate tax computation for the foreign share, both through ZATCA, alongside the withholding tax it owes on money paid abroad. Three obligations, one authority and one set of portals to run them through.

The zakat base is the part that catches people. It moves with your balance sheet, with how you finance the company, with what counts as a deductible asset. A thin profit does not guarantee a small zakat bill. Get the base right and the rest is arithmetic.

The honest version

The question is not whether zakat or corporate tax is better. You do not choose; your ownership does. The real question is whether you understood, before you set the cap table, that the split was a decision you were making. Most foreign investors learn it at the first filing. The ones who planned it learned it on day one.

If you are setting up with mixed ownership and want the tax understood before it is fixed, that is worth a conversation.

Written from operating experience in Riyadh. General guidance, not tax advice on any specific company.

Zakat or corporate tax in Saudi Arabia? It depends who owns you.