Authority registration without application and agreed effective dates
Where a Person has failed to make an application to the Authority as prescribed in the Implementing Regulations, the Authority may register that Person without any application. Such registration takes effect from the relevant date prescribed under Articles 3 and 4 of the Regulations. Separately, the Authority may agree to a request that registration take effect from a later date, up to the start of the month following the date of the application, or from an earlier date if the Person was eligible to be registered on that earlier date. Those powers are set out in Article 6(1) to (3) of the Regulations.
Registration by the Authority without an application
Article 6(1) of the Implementing Regulations provides that where the Person has failed to make an application to the Authority as prescribed in these Regulations, the Authority may register such Person without submitting any application and such registration shall take effect from the relevant date prescribed under Articles three and four of these Regulations.
The power applies where an application that the Regulations prescribe was not made. The effective date is not chosen freely under Article 6(1); it is the date that Articles 3 and 4 themselves prescribe. Article 3(2) provides that registration under the historic twelve-month test takes effect from the start of the next month following the month in which the registration application is submitted. Article 4(2) provides that registration under the expected-supplies test takes effect from the start of the first month in which annual Supplies made in the Kingdom were expected to exceed the Mandatory Registration Threshold. Article 6(1) points back to those prescribed dates where the Authority registers without an application.
Later effective date by agreement
Article 6(2) of the Regulations provides that, notwithstanding the other provisions of these Regulations, the Authority may agree to a request from the Person for the registration to take effect from a later date, up to the start of the month following the date of the application made by the Person.
The later date is therefore capped: it may not go beyond the start of the month following the date of the application. Article 6(2) is framed as an agreement upon a request from the Person; it does not oblige the Authority to accept every such request.
Earlier effective date by agreement
Article 6(3) of the Regulations provides that, notwithstanding the other provisions of these Regulations, the Authority may agree to a request from the Person for the registration to take effect from any earlier date, provided the Person was eligible to be registered on that earlier date.
Eligibility on the earlier date is a condition of any earlier effective date under Article 6(3). The provision does not itself restate the eligibility tests; those remain the registration rules elsewhere in the Regulations and the Agreement.
Scope of paragraphs (1) to (3)
Article 6 contains further paragraphs, including transitional wording in paragraph (4) and the Capital Assets exclusion in paragraph (5). The subject of this note is limited to paragraphs (1) to (3): Authority registration without an application, and agreed later or earlier effective dates. Paragraph (4) is transitional and is not restated here. Paragraph (5) is addressed separately.
What the legislation does not determine
Article 6(1) to (3) do not state any monetary penalty for a failure to apply as prescribed. They do not set out the procedure or form by which a Person requests a later or earlier effective date, beyond the existence of a request and the Authority’s agreement. They do not redefine the Mandatory Registration Threshold, the thirty-day application periods in Articles 3 to 5, or voluntary registration under Article 7. Nonresident registration under Article 5, and the exclusively zero-rated and Related Persons rules in Article 9, remain outside the text of Article 6(1) to (3).
Instruments relied on: Implementing Regulations, ninth edition, 26/11/1444H corresponding to 15/6/2023G, unofficial English translation, Article 6(1) to (3) (these paragraphs were not amended by the text of ZATCA Board Resolution No. (01-06-24) relied on here); Value Added Tax Law, Article 3, English text of the bilingual instrument (identified in the preamble to Resolution No. (01-06-24) as issued by Royal Decree No. (M/113) dated 02/11/1438H corresponding to 20/07/2017G, as amended). The Arabic text prevails.