Saudi Real Estate Transaction Tax (RETT) Calculator
The 5% RETT on a Saudi property transfer, the first-home relief and who pays it.
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Saudi Arabia · ZATCA Real Estate Transaction Tax Law · Sources
Who pays what
| Item | Amount |
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How it is worked out
Rules used and official sources
- ZATCA: Real Estate Transaction Tax Law
- ZATCA: Implementing Regulation of the Real Estate Transaction Tax Law
- ZATCA: detailed guideline for the Real Estate Transaction Tax
An estimate, not tax advice: ZATCA’s RETT service works out the invoice, and its assessment decides what is due.
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Tax rules and rates change. This calculator follows the rules described on this page and may not cover every situation. Check the official source or a qualified tax professional before filing or invoicing.
About the Saudi Real Estate Transaction Tax (RETT) Calculator
Work out the Real Estate Transaction Tax (RETT) on a property transfer in Saudi Arabia. RETT is 5% of the value agreed for the property, but never less than its fair market value, and ZATCA collects it before the notary transfers the title deed. The seller is liable for it to ZATCA, even when the contract has the buyer pay it. For a Saudi citizen buying a first home with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing’s certificate, the state bears the tax on up to SAR 1,000,000 of the price. A SAR 1,200,000 sale carries SAR 60,000 of RETT.
Besides sales the calculator takes gifts, interests in real estate companies, usufruct rights of more than 50 years, the exemptions of the RETT Law and the fine for paying late, as ZATCA’s guideline explains them. Nothing you type leaves your browser. Without a pass the page gives a free preview of your own result: the rate, the checks and who is liable, with every amount hidden until you unlock it with a Pro pass.
How to use it
- Choose the transaction: a sale or another transfer for a price, a gift, interests in a real estate company or a long usufruct right.
- Enter the price agreed and, if you know it, the fair market value: the tax is on the higher of the two.
- If the buyer is a citizen with a first-home certificate, tick the box; if the transaction is exempt, choose the exemption and check its condition.
- Choose who pays the tax under the contract, and enter the months late if it is paid after its due date.
- Read the tax, the part the state bears, what each side pays and the working. Without a pass the result is a free preview with the amounts hidden; with a Pro pass, or after unlocking this result, copy the summary or download it as CSV.
Examples
5% × SAR 1,200,000 = SAR 60,000, owed by the seller
Taxed on the market value: 5% × SAR 1,500,000 = SAR 75,000
SAR 40,000 borne by the state · nothing to pay
SAR 50,000 borne by the state · SAR 25,000 to pay (5% of the SAR 500,000 above SAR 1,000,000)
Cousin: SAR 50,000 on the market value · brother: exempt, as a notarized gift to a relative up to the third degree
5% × SAR 3,500,000 = SAR 175,000
Fine 6% = SAR 3,600 · total SAR 63,600
How the tax is worked out
RETT is 5% of the value of each real estate transaction — a sale, a gift, an exchange, a finance lease, a lease ending in ownership, the transfer of interests in a real estate company or a usufruct right of more than 50 years (RETT Law). The value is the one the parties agree, provided it is not less than the fair market value on the transaction date, and it includes everything inseparable from the property, such as its licences and rights; the profit margin built into licensed financing is left out. Each transaction is taxed on its own, so a property sold twice pays twice (ZATCA’s guideline).
Who pays, and when
The seller (the assignor) is the person liable to ZATCA. The buyer becomes liable with the seller when the buyer caused the tax to go unpaid, reduced or late — for example by agreeing a lower declared price. The contract can still have the buyer bear the cost, and often does. The tax is paid on or before notarization: the seller enters the deed in ZATCA’s RETT service, pays the invoice and the notary then completes the transfer. A transfer of possession for ownership without notarization pays within 30 days of the handover.
A citizen’s first home
The state bears the RETT on up to SAR 1,000,000 of the price of a Saudi citizen’s first home. The buyer gets the “First Home” certificate from the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing and gives it to the seller, who enters it with the transaction; ZATCA checks the eligibility, nothing is charged on the price up to SAR 1,000,000 and 5% is charged on any amount above it. If the certificate turns out to be wrong, the buyer becomes liable for the tax with the seller.
Exemptions
The RETT Law lists transactions that pay no tax, each with its conditions (ZATCA’s guideline). Among them:
- the division of an estate among the heirs, within their legal shares;
- a notarized gift to a spouse or a relative up to the third degree, if the property is not passed on within three years to someone who would not have qualified;
- a transfer to a government agency or a public-benefit entity, and expropriation for public benefit;
- a transfer without payment to a registered endowment or a licensed charity;
- a temporary transfer as security for financing from a licensed lender;
- an in-kind contribution to the capital of a company in the Kingdom, or a transfer to a wholly owned company or within a wholly owned group, if the ownership is kept for five years;
- a sale under a court’s forced-sale order, and the return of a property when a notarized sale is cancelled by consent within 90 days.
An exempt transaction is still registered with ZATCA, which gives the proof of exemption the notary needs.
Interests in a company and long usufruct rights
A real estate company is any company, fund or entity whose real estate in the Kingdom is worth at least 50% of its assets at fair market value at any time in the 365 days before the transfer. Transferring 30% or more of its interests, in one transaction or related ones within three years, is a real estate transaction, taxed on the higher of the market value of its real estate times the share transferred and the value agreed for the real estate. A usufruct right of more than 50 years is taxed on the higher of the present value of its market value and the present value of all the payments agreed.
Fines
Paying late adds a fine of 2% of the unpaid tax for each month or part of one, up to 50% of it, and 1% a month more on an amount ZATCA corrects. Evasion — false documents or any act meant to avoid the tax — can be fined up to three times the tax evaded, and other breaches of the law up to the tax due or SAR 50,000, whichever is greater.
Limitations
- Present values for a usufruct right are entered, not worked out: the calculator does not choose a discount rate.
- The exemptions are applied as you choose them: their conditions are listed, but the calculator cannot check them.
- Build-own-operate-transfer projects, off-plan sales and series of related transactions are taxed by the rules of ZATCA’s guideline, which the calculator covers only through the values you enter.
- Only the late-payment fine is worked out; the other fines are maximums ZATCA sets case by case.
- Brokerage, notary, registration and developer fees are not part of RETT and are not included.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
What do I get without a pass?
Without a pass, Saudi Real Estate Transaction Tax (RETT) Calculator shows the rate, the exemption and first-home checks and who is liable, with every amount hidden. Until you unlock it, the result can’t be downloaded or copied. A Pro, Premium or Ultimate pass, a one-time payment that never renews, unlocks the full result. The pricing page lists the passes and their prices.
How much is the real estate transaction tax in Saudi Arabia?
5% of the value agreed for the property, but not less than its fair market value. On a SAR 1,200,000 sale that is SAR 60,000.
Who pays RETT, the buyer or the seller?
The seller is the person liable to ZATCA. The contract can have the buyer pay it, and the buyer becomes liable together with the seller if the buyer caused the tax to go unpaid or be understated.
Do I pay RETT on my first home?
If you are a Saudi citizen with the Ministry of Municipalities and Housing’s first-home certificate, the state bears the tax on up to SAR 1,000,000 of the price: a SAR 800,000 home costs nothing in RETT, and a SAR 1,500,000 home SAR 25,000.
Is RETT charged on a gift of property?
Yes, on the market value — unless it is a notarized gift to a spouse or a relative up to the third degree (parents, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents and grandchildren, uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces), which is exempt as long as the property is not passed on within three years to someone who would not have qualified. Land worth SAR 1,000,000 given to a cousin pays SAR 50,000.
Is RETT the same as VAT?
No. Supplies of real estate that transfer its ownership are exempt from VAT, and RETT is charged on them instead (Royal Order A/84). Services around the sale, such as a broker’s, are separate from RETT.
When must RETT be paid?
On or before the transaction is notarized: the notary transfers the property only after ZATCA’s invoice is paid, or after ZATCA has registered the transaction as exempt. A transfer of possession without notarization pays within 30 days of the handover.
Is what I enter sent anywhere?
No. Everything is worked out in your browser; nothing you enter is uploaded or stored on a server.