Khaleej Times, 8 September 2024: The Saudi Arabia’s Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has announced new customs service fees starting 6 October 2024.

The new rules include waiving the fees for all customs services for exports.

The authority has also reduced customs service fees for imports through a new mechanism for calculating import service fees, which involves a fee of 0.15% of the value of the incoming goods for customs declaration processing services.

Additionally, the Fee Document on Customs Services stipulates a fee of SAR15 for customs declaration processing services on individuals’ shipments arriving through online stores, provided that the value of these shipments does not exceed SAR1,000.

The ZATCA has clarified that the customs services for exports for which the fees have been waived include customs declaration processing service, lead seal, land port loading services, X-ray inspection, customs data exchange, and sample analysis exchange at specialised laboratories.

The authority has added that previously the customs service fees for imports included a charge of SR100 for each container inspected by X-ray, an additional SR 100 for “information exchange” services, and SR20 for customs declaration processing services.

With the new decision, the fee shall be based on 0.15% of the value of the incoming goods, including insurance and shipping, with a maximum of SR 500 and a minimum of SR15 and a special cap of SR130 for shipments exempt from customs duties and taxes.

ZATCA invites customers and taxpayers to contact it if they have any inquiries via the unified 24/7 call centre number (19993), its X Account (@Zatca_Care), e-mail (info@zatca.gov.sa), or instant chatting through its website (zatca.gov.sa).

The new mechanism for calculating import service fees aims to reduce import costs and enhance the importers’ capability to pre-calculate customs service fees for imports and set a higher limit for such fees.

The new decision also ensures the elimination of any cost increases against importers and unifies the calculation mechanism for the various land, sea and air ports while supporting and enhancing trade facilitation objectives.

ZATCA has also announced that through the new measures, it seeks to provide customs services in accordance with the best practices, leading to realising positive income across the logistics ecosystem and supporting its strategic objectives.

The new measures also aim to promote the confidence of importers and exporters and improve transparency.

ZATCA has reiterated its commitment to develop its customs services in line with its strategic objectives by contributing to turning Saudi Arabia into a global logistics hub in line with Vision 2030.

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