Riyadh – Mubasher: Since Saudi Arabia began imposing the value-added tax earlier this year, many job opportunities have emerged, with KPMG forecasting more jobs in various fields.
Both government and private businesses had to ensure that they were prepared for the VAT and its regulations, which resulted in higher demand for financial and auditing companies and consultants.
“Before the actual introduction of VAT, there was a lot of work that had to be done including assessing the impact of VAT on their business, what changes are required to their accounting and other systems to account for VAT, developing systems to prepare and file monthly reports to the authority,” KPMG Saudi Arabia said in its report.
The auditor further added that since before the introduction of the VAT, the step had already resulted in massive opportunities in the Kingdom.
“Saudis have played an important role in all this and will continue to do so. The biggest opportunity for Saudis will be the need for Tax Inspectors to administer the VAT system,” the report stated.
Earlier in 2018, the Saudi Organization of Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) started training companies and institutions on the VAT.
“In the long run, VAT will benefit everyone and create huge employment opportunities for Saudis, both, in public and private sectors,” KPMG’s head of tax and zakat Ebrahim Baeshen said.
He added that more jobs will appear in the fields of tax advice, IT design & implementation, and accounting.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and other GCC members began applying the VAT at around 5% to narrow the budget deficits that have taken place after oil prices tumbled by more than half.
