Customs on parcels in Saudi Arabia: duty, VAT and the SAR 15 fee

Three charges, one line at SAR 1,000

A parcel from an online store outside Saudi Arabia can carry three official charges: customs duty, VAT and a customs declaration fee. All three are set by law and collected by the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA). Only one of them, customs duty, depends on the SAR 1,000 line.

ZATCA's page for e-store customers says personal goods are exempt from customs duty when two conditions hold: the total value of the purchase is less than SAR 1,000, and the item needs no clearance permit from another authority. The total is goods plus shipping plus insurance, not the price of the item alone. A SAR 940 jacket with SAR 70 shipping is a SAR 1,010 purchase, and it is over the line.

The text says "less than" SAR 1,000. An order that comes to exactly SAR 1,000 is therefore not inside the exemption as written. How customs counts one order that arrives in several parcels is not stated on ZATCA's page, so we cannot say whether splitting changes anything: not confirmed.

VAT: due on every parcel, whatever its value

The duty exemption does not cover VAT. ZATCA states that personal goods are not exempt from VAT except where the VAT system itself grants an exemption, and that VAT is collected regardless of the shipment's value. Its VAT guideline on imports adds that 15% VAT applies to all imported goods, including goods that are exempt from customs duty. The import VAT exemptions it lists are narrow: qualifying medicines and medical equipment, diplomatic and military cases, and returned goods, among others.

VAT is not worked out on the item price alone. ZATCA says it is calculated on every amount in the customs declaration: the value of the goods, shipping, insurance, customs duty and the customs declaration fee. That is why the VAT on a parcel is usually a little more than 15% of what you paid the store.

The customs declaration fee (SAR 15 on most small orders)

Since 6 October 2024, ZATCA charges a fee for processing each customs declaration on incoming goods. The Fees Rules on Customs Services, published in the official gazette Umm Al-Qura on 6 September 2024, set it at 0.15% of the customs value of the goods, with a minimum of SAR 15 and a maximum of SAR 500 (Article 3).

For a shopper the minimum is what matters. 0.15% of SAR 1,000 is SAR 1.50, so any declaration worth up to SAR 10,000 pays the SAR 15 minimum. ZATCA's announcement, carried by the Saudi Press Agency, says this plainly for e-commerce: individuals' shipments from online stores worth no more than SAR 1,000 pay SAR 15. Before the change, the declaration processing charge was SAR 20.

The rules also cap the fee at SAR 130 for a declaration that contains only goods exempt from VAT. The press release words this as shipments "exempt from customs duties and taxes", but the gazette text, which is the legal text, says VAT-exempt goods. Ordinary clothes, gadgets and cosmetics are not VAT-exempt, so this cap rarely touches a shopper's parcel.

The duty rate over SAR 1,000: it depends on the item

Saudi Arabia applies the GCC unified customs tariff, which sets a rate for each tariff line; since 1 January 2025 ZATCA uses the integrated 12-digit version. There is no single rate for everything. The WTO's trade policy review of Saudi Arabia (January 2021) found that in 2020 77.4% of tariff lines carried 5%, 10.6% were duty-free and 9.7% sat between 5% and 15%, with a few much higher, such as tobacco at 100%. Duties on various consumer, industrial and agricultural goods were raised again in June 2020.

Rates still move one item at a time. A Minister of Finance decision published in Umm Al-Qura raised three electrical-equipment lines from 5% to 15% from 16 July 2024. So 5% is a fair first estimate for many everyday goods, but it is an estimate. To check a specific item, use ZATCA's Integrated Customs Tariff Inquiry e-service. We found no current ZATCA page that names one general rate for most goods: not confirmed.

Who collects the money, and when

For courier parcels, the courier prepares the customs declaration, puts the parcel through security inspection and clears it through a ZATCA-accredited broker. Once customs approves the declaration, the carrier pays the duty and VAT due, then recovers that money from you, or from the store if the store already charged you at checkout. ZATCA lists the usual causes of delay: a late declaration, wrong or missing information, or waiting for a permit from another authority.

Two rules protect you. ZATCA does not ask for a copy of your ID card for personal shipments; the courier needs only your full name and ID number. And ZATCA charges nothing except through a customs declaration: the courier must give you a copy, which lists every duty, and a receipt for the VAT. If a courier asks for an extra amount "for customs", ask for the declaration before you pay.

Worked examples in SAR

Example 1, under the line: a SAR 520 order with SAR 60 shipping is a SAR 580 purchase. No duty. Declaration fee SAR 15. VAT is 15% of SAR 595 (580 + 15), which is SAR 89.25. Extra cost: SAR 104.25, for a landed total of SAR 684.25, if the store did not already include VAT in its price.

Example 2, over the line: a SAR 1,050 order with SAR 150 shipping is a SAR 1,200 purchase. Duty at an assumed 5% is SAR 60. The fee is SAR 15, because 0.15% of SAR 1,200 is only SAR 1.80. VAT is 15% of SAR 1,275 (1,200 + 60 + 15), which is SAR 191.25. Extra cost: SAR 266.25, landed total SAR 1,466.25. Here we apply the duty rate to the same total; the exact base is the customs value shown on the declaration.

Example 3, the line itself: a SAR 990 purchase lands at SAR 1,155.75 (fee 15, VAT 150.75). A SAR 1,010 purchase lands at SAR 1,236.83 (duty 50.50 at 5%, fee 15, VAT 161.33). SAR 20 more in the basket costs SAR 81.08 more at the door. Our landed-cost tool runs the same sums with the duty rate you choose.

What the stores we track say

iHerb's Saudi shipping page says the 15% VAT has been included in its product prices since 18 March 2021, that the ZATCA customs service fee has been charged at checkout since 6 October 2024, and that all duties, taxes and import fees are collected at checkout, with nothing due on delivery.

Go Sport's Saudi terms say that from SAR 1,000 an order carries a declaration fee (SAR 15 to 85 by value), 5% customs on the order value and a "Bayan" fee of SAR 30 to 170. These are the store's own published figures; the ZATCA fee itself is 0.15% with a SAR 15 minimum, so ask the store what each line covers.

Styli does not refund import duties, shipping or COD fees when you return an order. Al-Dawaa Plus says imported items travel 3 to 10 days by a third-party courier whose fees the customer pays, with customs fees and VAT on top, according to the store's published terms. The SHEIN and Temu Saudi pages we read on 9 November 2026 did not say whether their SAR prices include VAT and customs: not confirmed.

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