RiyalPlus — Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms you'll encounter in RiyalPlus and on your Saudi filings. These entries explain what each term means; they are informational, not tax or legal advice. Where a definition rests on a regulation, the source is cited.
Tax & Regulatory Concepts
Accountant certification threshold — The income level above which a SOCPA-licensed accountant must certify a declaration before it is filed: taxable income before deduction of expenses above SAR 1 million. Because it is measured before expenses are deducted, this sits closer to gross income / turnover than to the adjusted tax base. RiyalPlus flags when a case requires certified-accountant sign-off. [Source: Income Tax Law, Article 60(e)]
Adjusted profit (Zakat / Tax) (الربح المعدَّل) — Net book profit after the applicable declaration adjustments are applied, calculated separately for the Zakat side and the tax side. It feeds into the Zakat base and the tax base respectively.
Adjustment line (بند تعديل) — A single permitted modification to net book profit on the declaration — for example excess repairs, used provisions, or a depreciation difference. Each applicable line needs a supporting evidence reference.
AEP — Automatic Extraction of Payments (الاستخراج التلقائي للمدفوعات) — An optional WHT upgrade (5 points, per entity-year): upload an invoice or remittance and RiyalPlus prefills the payment's amount, currency, recipient, and date. The payment type, relationship, and treaty facts always remain your assertion.
Arm's length (مبدأ استقلالية التعامل) — The principle that transactions between related parties should be priced as they would be between independent parties. The foundation of the Transfer Pricing disclosure. [ZATCA TP Bylaws, Art. 2]
Audit exemption (الإعفاء من المراجعة) — A provision allowing the smallest companies to skip the statutory external audit when they meet size thresholds. Important: audit exemption does not exempt a company from depositing financial statements on Qawaem — the two obligations are separate. [Source: Companies Law, Article 19]
Beneficial owner / UBO (المستفيد الحقيقي) — The natural person(s) who ultimately own or control a company: 25% or more of capital or voting rights (directly or indirectly), the power to appoint or remove management, or effective influence — and if no one qualifies, the manager or board members by fallback. Nearly all companies must keep a UBO register and confirm it annually with the Ministry of Commerce. [Beneficial Owner Rules, Ministerial Decision 99 (1447H)]
Business archetype — RiyalPlus's classification of a company's primary business type (trading, services, manufacturing, construction, real estate, or mixed), inferred from its registered activities. It influences how certain statements and checks are applied.
Capital (رأس المال) — The capital recorded in the company's commercial registration. Together with ownership nationality it drives the apportionment of Zakat; it also determines the Qawaem personal-penalty band.
CbCR — Country-by-Country Reporting (تقرير كل دولة على حدة) — A reporting obligation for constituent entities of multinational groups whose prior-year consolidated revenue exceeds SAR 3.2 billion. In RiyalPlus the CbCR notification is a step inside the TP year: a free two-question scope gate that resolves to "not applicable" for most companies; in-scope companies complete the notification within 120 days of year-end. [ZATCA TP Bylaws, Art. 18]
Claw-back (RETT) (استرداد الإعفاء) — The retroactive loss of a RETT exemption when one of its surviving conditions is breached (for example, selling shares inside a 5-year lock). The tax becomes payable within 30 days of the breach. RiyalPlus's claw-back monitor tracks these conditions with countdowns, free.
Closing inventory (مخزون آخر المدة) — Inventory on hand at period end. Under the periodic method it appears both inside cost of goods sold and as a balance-sheet asset — this is correct accounting, not double counting.
COGS — Cost of Goods Sold (تكلفة المبيعات) — Computed as opening inventory + purchases − closing inventory. A blocking check verifies this formula before export.
Commercial registration (CR) (السجل التجاري) — The official company registration. RiyalPlus reads ownership, capital, legal form, and activities from it (or looks them up in the commercial registry by CR number) to build the filing entity.
CR anniversary (ذكرى قيد السجل التجاري) — The yearly anniversary of the company's commercial-registration date. The UBO annual confirmation is due on this date each year and may be filed up to 30 days early.
Evidence reference (مرجع الدليل) — A link from a declared or adjusted figure to a supporting workpaper or uploaded document. The mechanism behind the platform's evidence-first rule.
Excise tax (الضريبة الانتقائية) — A tax on specific goods: tobacco products, energy drinks, and e-smoking devices and their liquids at 100% of the tax base; sweetened beverages at a per-litre rate by sugar tier. Filed bi-monthly (six periods a year), due by the end of the month following the period.
Fair market value (FMV) (القيمة السوقية العادلة) — The price a property could fetch between independent parties in an open market. The RETT base is the higher of the agreed consideration or FMV. In RiyalPlus the FMV is always asserted by you or an accredited valuer — the system never invents one. [RETT Law, Art. 2]
Financial statements (القوائم المالية) — The IFRS-for-SMEs statement set RiyalPlus generates from the computed case: statement of financial position, income statement, cash flow statement, statement of changes in equity, and notes. Included in the case price; also the input for the Qawaem deposit.
Form 10 / Form S/10 (نموذج الإقرار) — The annual Zakat / income tax return submitted to ZATCA. "Form S" is the Zakat return and "Form 10" the income tax return; they share one structure.
GCC (دول مجلس التعاون الخليجي) — Gulf Cooperation Council. For ownership classification, GCC nationals are grouped with Saudi owners for Zakat-eligibility purposes.
Hijri calendar (التقويم الهجري) — The Islamic lunar calendar. When a filing period runs on the Hijri calendar, the Zakat rate is day-count adjusted rather than a flat rate.
IFRS for SMEs (المعايير الدولية للتقرير المالي للمنشآت الصغيرة والمتوسطة) — The accounting framework RiyalPlus uses to prepare the financial statements.
Income tax (ضريبة الدخل) — The tax applied to non-Saudi-owned portions of a company's profit. Whether it applies is determined by the ownership structure.
MD 236 (القرار الوزاري 236) — The Ministry of Commerce decision setting personal fines for failing to deposit financial statements on Qawaem: SAR 2,000–20,000 per responsible manager or board chairman, by company form and capital, +50% for a second consecutive year. [Companies Law Arts. 262(e), 267(1), 264(2)]
Net book profit (صافي الربح المحاسبي) — Bottom-line profit from the income statement (revenue − cost of sales − expenses), before any tax or Zakat adjustments.
Nil return (إقرار صفري) — A return filed for a period with no activity. A VAT-registered or excise-registered entity must still file for every period; WHT months with no payments are marked nil. In VAT and Excise, a nil period is still a filing and is charged like one.
Nominee arrangement (الوكالة عن مالك حقيقي) — When a shareholder holds or exercises rights on behalf of another person and per their instructions. The real person must be disclosed and recorded in the UBO register within 15 days. [Beneficial Owner Rules, Art. 6]
Ownership structure (هيكل الملكية) — The split of a company's capital and profit among Saudi, GCC, and non-Saudi owners. It determines whether Zakat, income tax, or both apply, and how liabilities are apportioned.
Permanent establishment (PE) (المنشأة الدائمة) — A non-resident's fixed place of business in Saudi Arabia. WHT applies to payments to non-residents without a Saudi PE; the PE status of each beneficiary is a fact you record in the WHT registry.
Qawaem (منصة قوائم) — The Ministry of Commerce platform (via the Saudi Business Center) where companies deposit their annual financial statements — within 6 months of year-end (4 months for joint-stock companies). Separate from, but data-linked to, the ZATCA declaration. [Companies Law, Art. 17(2)]
Real-estate company (الشركة العقارية) — A company or fund whose real-estate value is 50% or more of its total assets. Transferring an aggregate 30% of its shares within a 3-year window is a taxable RETT disposal based on the underlying property's FMV. [RETT IR, Art. 2]
Related party (طرف ذو علاقة) — An entity connected to the filing company by ownership, management, or control. Related parties trigger disclosure requirements and, where there are controlled transactions, the Transfer Pricing obligations. [ZATCA TP Bylaws, Art. 14]
Retained earnings (الأرباح المبقاة) — Accumulated profits not distributed to owners. They form part of the Zakat base's sources of funds.
RETT — Real Estate Transaction Tax (ضريبة التصرفات العقارية) — A flat 5% tax on real-estate disposals — sale, gift, barter, lease-to-own, usufruct over 50 years, or real-estate-company share transfers — on the higher of consideration or FMV. Filed per transaction on ZATCA's RETT portal, generally paid at or before notarization. [RETT Law, RD M/84]
Reverse charge (الاحتساب العكسي) — The VAT mechanism for imported services: the Saudi recipient self-accounts the 15% output VAT and may deduct it as input where entitled. Whether a foreign supply is a reverse-charge service is your assertion in the VAT flow.
SADAD (سداد) — Saudi Arabia's electronic bill-payment system, used to pay ZATCA bills after submitting a return.
SAR (ريال سعودي) — Saudi Riyal, the presentation currency for all amounts in RiyalPlus.
SFP — Statement of Financial Position (قائمة المركز المالي) — The balance sheet, prepared under IFRS for SMEs; shows assets, liabilities, and equity at period end.
SOCPA (الهيئة السعودية للمراجعين والمحاسبين) — The Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants; licenses the accountants who certify declarations and financial statements.
Standard price (Excise) (السعر المعياري) — The GCC-agreed reference price for ad-valorem excise goods. The excise base is the higher of the retail sales price or the standard price; where none is published, the retail sales price applies.
Statement of cash flows (قائمة التدفقات النقدية) — One of the generated financial statements, showing cash movements across operating, investing, and financing activities.
Statement of changes in equity (قائمة التغيرات في حقوق الملكية) — One of the generated financial statements, reconciling opening and closing equity for the period.
Sugar tier (Excise) (شريحة السكر) — The sweetened-beverage rate band, set solely by sugar concentration in grams per 100 ml of the ready-to-drink product: artificial-only and under 5 g are SAR 0/litre; 5–7.99 g is SAR 0.79/litre; 8 g and above is SAR 1.09/litre. The concentration is asserted from the product spec or a lab report — never estimated.
Tax base (الوعاء الضريبي) — The income-tax counterpart of the Zakat base: the non-Saudi partners' share of taxable income, less permitted expenses. [Income Tax Law, Art. 6(a)]
Tax residency certificate (TRC) (شهادة الإقامة الضريبية) — The document proving a beneficiary's residence in a treaty country. Treaty relief in WHT is applied only where a TRC is on file.
TP — Transfer pricing (التسعير التحويلي) — The pricing of transactions between related parties. In RiyalPlus, a standalone yearly workflow: related-party register, controlled transactions by type, the CbCR notification step, and the disclosure pack.
TP Disclosure Form (CTDF) (نموذج الإفصاح عن المعاملات المُسيطَر عليها) — The form ZATCA requires from any entity with controlled transactions, regardless of size; from FY 2024 it also applies to Zakat payers. Filed with the annual return; RiyalPlus generates the disclosure pack and the accountant's affidavit form. [ZATCA TP Bylaws, Art. 14]
Treaty relief (WHT) (الإعفاء الاتفاقي) — A reduced or zero WHT rate under a double-tax treaty between Saudi Arabia and the beneficiary's country, applied only where the treaty facts and a tax-residency certificate are recorded.
Usufruct (حق الانتفاع) — The right to use and benefit from a property. Granting a usufruct for more than 50 years is a RETT-taxable disposal; its base is a present value, which requires a user-asserted discount rate with its basis (an accredited valuer or a ZATCA ruling) — the regulation specifies no rate and RiyalPlus never guesses one. [RETT IR, Art. 2]
VAT — Value Added Tax (ضريبة القيمة المضافة) — The 15% consumption tax. Registered entities file monthly (above SAR 40M annual taxable supplies) or quarterly; the return is output tax minus deductible input tax. RiyalPlus computes the return from your trial balance and reconciles it against ZATCA's pre-filled draft. VAT also applies to RiyalPlus's own fees at checkout. [VAT IR, Arts. 49, 59, 60]
WHT — Withholding tax (ضريبة الاستقطاع) — Tax withheld from Saudi-source payments to non-residents without a Saudi PE (services, royalties, dividends, rent, and similar), at per-category rates, remitted monthly within the first 10 days of the following month. Late payment costs 1% per 30 days. [Income Tax Law, Art. 68; Implementing Regulations, Art. 63]
XBRL — The machine-readable format the Qawaem platform uses for financial-statement deposits. RiyalPlus's direct XBRL export is coming soon; until then the platform produces a validated deposit pack for manual entry on the portal.
ZATCA (هيئة الزكاة والضريبة والجمارك) — The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority: the Saudi authority for Zakat, income tax, VAT, WHT, Excise, and RETT filings.
Zakat (الزكاة) — A religious wealth levy on Saudi/GCC-owned business capital, computed annually. Whether it applies is determined by the ownership structure.
Zakat base (وعاء الزكاة) — The amount Zakat is calculated against — broadly, certain sources of funds with specified additions and deductions, computed by the "sources of funds" method, and not less than adjusted net profit. [Zakat Implementing Regulations]
Zakat rate (نسبة الزكاة) — 2.5% over a standard year. Where the fiscal period is Hijri-based or non-standard in length, a day-count-adjusted rate applies.
Product & Billing Concepts
Add-on — A product activated on top of a Zakat & tax case: Verify+ (10 points) or the Qawaem deposit (15 points). Selectable at case creation or activated later from the case; the charge is one-time per case.
Audit trail — The record stored with every filing linking each computed number back to its formula, inputs, and supporting evidence, so no figure is left unexplained.
Beneficiary registry (WHT) — The per-entity register of foreign payees and their rate-determining facts: relationship, permanent-establishment status, treaty country, and tax-residency certificate. It persists across years.
Blocker vs. warning — Validation checks come in two severities: blockers prevent export or filing until resolved; warnings flag issues for review but don't block — they can be overridden with a recorded reason.
Case — One Zakat & tax declaration: one filing entity, one fiscal period. Creating it is free; the locked price is charged at trial-balance upload. Other products have their own containers (TP year, WHT year, VAT/Excise periods, RETT transactions, UBO confirmations).
Claw-back monitor — The standing RETT surface listing every live exemption condition with its countdown. Bundled free with the transaction filing. See also: Claw-back (RETT).
Container — The free organizing unit of each product: the entity×year VAT or Excise case, the WHT year, the TP year, the RETT transaction list, the UBO register. Creating containers costs nothing; charges attach to the paid actions inside them.
Filing entity (ملف المكلّف) — A company you file for: its CR details, ownership, capital, legal form, and activities. Every product works against a filing entity. Each case pins the entity's data as of creation, so later profile edits don't silently change a filing.
Filing period — The fiscal period a case files for, defined by its start and end dates.
Filing type / filing mode — How a Zakat & tax case treats opening balances: first year of a new entity, first time filing in the app, or sequential (linked to the prior-year case).
Opening grant — The one-time points credit new accounts receive at their first case, enough to run initial filings before buying a top-up.
Point (نقطة) — RiyalPlus's currency: 1 point = SAR 50. All product prices are in points; there are no subscriptions.
Points ledger — The append-only record of every point movement on your account — charges, top-ups, refunds, and grants — with what each was for and who spent it.
Product catalog (Excise) — The per-entity registry of excise SKUs: category, sugar concentration with its evidence, dilution ratio, and prices. Authored once, free; it drives every period's return.
Role — A team member's permission level: Admin (members, billing, settings), Member (assigned clients' filings), or Viewer (read-only).
Seat — A team member slot. Every account includes 2 free member seats on top of the admin; additional permanent seats cost 36 points each (one-time).
Submission ready — The state in which all blocking checks have passed and the filing pack can be exported.
Support page — The full support surface, opened from the sidebar: the assistant, your conversation history, and escalation to a human ticket. Each wizard step's footer links to it with the step's context ("Need help with this step?").
Tenant account — The billable container that owns the points balance, filing entities, cases, and team.
Top-up bundle — A points purchase. One payment credits your balance; from SAR 10,000 face value you receive +5% bonus points, from SAR 25,000 +10%. Each purchase gets a tax invoice (15% VAT at checkout).
UBO register — The persistent per-entity record of beneficial owners with the mandated fields (identity, criterion and percentage, dates, supporting documents), kept current through 15-day updates and snapshotted into each annual confirmation.
Verify+ — The document-check add-on (10 points per case): upload supporting documents per declaration line; RiyalPlus reads the amounts and reports matches and mismatches, with a PDF report.
Process Concepts
Compute (الحساب) — The step that calculates the Zakat base, tax base, and resulting amounts from the mapped trial balance, then runs the validation controls.
ECI — Extracted Contract Information — The structured company information RiyalPlus extracts from the commercial registration or articles of association: ownership split, capital, legal form, related parties, activities. It populates the filing entity for you to confirm.
Identification cascade (UBO) — The ordered legal test RiyalPlus applies to find beneficial owners: 25% capital → 25% voting rights → appointment/removal power → influence → legal-representative rule → manager/board fallback. Indirect stakes are computed through the ownership chain.
Mapping (التصنيف) — Matching each trial-balance account to the correct declaration line. Suggested automatically from your history and confirmed patterns, then reviewed by you before compute.
Mapping template — A per-account learned record of confirmed mappings, so repeat accounts are classified automatically in future filings.
Mark filed — The action that closes a VAT or Excise period, a RETT transaction, or a WHT month after you submit on the portal. It locks the record (immutable), and for VAT, Excise, and RETT it is the charge point.
Opening / closing balances — Account balances at the start and end of a period. In a sequential filing, one year's closing balances become the next year's opening balances automatically.
Override — Your deliberate acceptance of a non-blocking warning, recorded with a reason in the audit trail.
Provenance — An indicator of where a value came from: your document, last year's filing, a template, an AI suggestion, or a manual edit.
Reconciliation (VAT) — The side-by-side comparison of the return RiyalPlus computed from your trial balance against the draft ZATCA pre-filled on the portal, with every difference typed and explained before you submit.
Step approval / locking — Approving a wizard step locks it against accidental edits. Unlocking it to change something marks downstream steps as needing a re-run, so results never go stale silently.
Trial balance (TB) (ميزان المراجعة) — The list of all general-ledger account balances for the period, with debits and credits. The source data for the Zakat & tax declaration and the VAT return.
TB ingestion — The step that reads an uploaded trial balance, detects its layout, and normalizes it into a structured form ready for mapping. For the Zakat & tax case, this is where the case's locked price is charged.
Validation / controls — The deterministic checks run after compute that confirm a filing is internally consistent and complete (the trial balance balances, the balance sheet ties, the COGS formula holds, rates match the law). Blockers must pass before export.