Selling across the Gulf: four VAT markets, three rates

Four of the six Gulf states apply VAT, and they use three different standard rates: 15% in Saudi Arabia, 10% in Bahrain, and 5% in the UAE and Oman. Qatar and Kuwait publish no VAT rate as of 6 October 2026, the date the official sources for this article were read.

So if your Zid store sells into more than one Gulf market, the tax setup needs a review market by market. Each market publishes its own rate, and how you treat orders in each one is a call to confirm with your accountant.

The standard rate in each country

The chart shows the standard VAT rate in the four states that apply it, from highest to lowest.

• Saudi Arabia15%
• Bahrain10%
• UAE5%
• Oman5%

Show the data as a table

Saudi Arabia	15%
Bahrain	10%
UAE	5%
Oman	5%

Qatar and Kuwait publish no VAT rate as of the read date, so they have no bar in the chart. Details under How the numbers were read.

Source: ZATCA, UAE Federal Tax Authority, Bahrain National Bureau for Revenue, Oman Tax Authority · as of 6 October 2026

The gap between the highest and lowest rate in the chart is 10 percentage points. Of the four, Saudi Arabia has the highest rate.

Gulf states that publish a VAT rate

4 of 6

As of 6 October 2026

Different standard rates: 15%, 10% and 5%

3

Tax authorities of the four states

Base rate agreed by the GCC states

5%

Bahrain National Bureau for Revenue

Source: Official Gulf tax authorities · as of 6 October 2026

How the numbers were read

• The chart shows the standard VAT rate as each country’s official tax authority publishes it.
• Sources: ZATCA in Saudi Arabia, the Federal Tax Authority in the UAE, the National Bureau for Revenue in Bahrain, and the Oman Tax Authority.
• For Qatar: the General Tax Authority’s investors guide says VAT is not applied in Qatar.
• For Kuwait: the Ministry of Finance’s lists of tax laws and decree-laws include no VAT legislation.
• Read on 6 October 2026. The links are in the sources list at the end of the article.
• Left out on purpose: goods and services each country treats differently from the standard rate, registration thresholds, filing deadlines and e-invoicing.

Rates change over time, too. According to Bahrain’s National Bureau for Revenue, the GCC states agreed on a base rate of 5%. Bahrain started VAT at 5% on 1 January 2019, then moved to 10% from 1 January 2022. That is why every rate in this article carries the date it was read.

What it means for your store

The tax on each order in your Zid store follows the store’s tax settings. According to the Zid Help Center, you set them under Dashboard, then Settings, then Tax settings. They cover:

• Whether the product prices you enter already include VAT.
• Whether VAT is added to shipping fees.
• How VAT is shown: on each product in the store, or on the invoice only.
• The countries the tax applies to, and for each one: the store’s tax number, its VAT certificate and the tax rate.

The Help Center also says the number of countries you can add depends on your Zid plan.

When prices are entered with VAT included, the price before tax changes with each market’s rate. The example below uses plain numbers, a price of 115 with VAT included in every market, and assumes the store applies each market’s rate, which is a decision to make with your accountant.

Example	Rate	VAT	Price before VAT
Saudi Arabia	15%	15.00	100.00
Bahrain	10%	10.45	104.55
UAE or Oman	5%	5.48	109.52

The customer sees the same price, and the books show three different VAT amounts. So a single price across markets is worth a review with your accountant.

The app reads Zid’s tax settings, and each paid order is written into your ERP with the customer, items, tax and shipping, then read back from the ERP to confirm it is there. So getting the tax right in your ERP starts with getting each market’s tax setup right in Zid. Selling in more than one Gulf market is set up on request, depending on your ERP.

One thing to do: review each market

Before you start selling into a new Gulf market, and after any rate change, it helps to go through your Zid tax settings with your accountant:

• Match the rate for each country you added against that country’s current official rate.
• Check the tax number and VAT certificate for each country you added.
• Review the prices-include-VAT option and the VAT-on-shipping option.
• Decide with your accountant how to treat orders to Qatar and Kuwait.

When you install the app, our team does the setup with you, and the connection is tested on your store’s orders before you go live. It helps to have your accountant check the tax on the test orders before you approve the test report.

Once your tax settings are reviewed, you can install the app from the Zid App Market so your orders reach your ERP with their tax.