Saudi CR: New Fees and Annual Confirmation Rules

Business owners in Saudi Arabia are operating under an updated Commercial Registration (CR) framework, issued and managed through the Ministry of Commerce's electronic services and the unified Saudi Business Center (business.sa) platform, with notarial and corporate actions supported through ناجز.

Under the current schedule, issuing a main CR to start a new project costs SAR 200, while a branch registration costs SAR 100. When establishing a company under an investment license, fees vary by legal form: SAR 1,600 for a joint-stock or simplified joint-stock company, SAR 1,200 for a limited liability company, and SAR 1,000 for a general or limited partnership. Publication fees of SAR 500 apply, with 15% VAT added to the service fee. Existing companies pay the same tiered amounts for the annual confirmation of CR data.

No fixed expiry date

The most significant change is that the Commercial Register Law removes a fixed expiration date for the CR. Instead, the register stays valid through a mandatory annual confirmation of data, which merchants must submit every 12 months from the CR issuance date. Companies can usually begin the update process 30 days before the issuance anniversary.

If the confirmation is not submitted within 90 days of the due date, the CR is suspended, a status treated similarly to the previous "expired" classification. A suspended CR that is not corrected is automatically cancelled one year after suspension begins. Restoring an inactive CR requires paying both the annual fee and any penalty.

The new law also allows one commercial registration to be valid across all regions of the Kingdom, removing the old requirement to specify a city of registration. Existing subsidiary registers have a five-year grace period to comply. The CR issuance date now serves as the reference point for annual confirmation, while the "expiry date" printed on older certificates is no longer legally operative.

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