1. Investment registration
Complete investment registration before commencing the investment activity.
Create a tailored Saudi investment cost estimate, establishment checklist and official government service plan.
Variable amounts are estimates. Replace them with the quotation or invoice issued by the official authority.
Complete investment registration before commencing the investment activity.
Begin formation through the Saudi Business Center.
Document the incorporation and issue the commercial registration.
Register the establishment’s national business address.
Confirm activity and location requirements and calculate municipal fees.
Complete the applicable chamber subscription.
Register the establishment and employees with GOSI.
Meet employment and Saudization requirements and issue work licences.
Assess VAT, income-tax and zakat registration obligations.
This is an initial planning tool, not an investment approval or legal or tax opinion. Requirements vary by activity, Saudization status and regulator.
Choose according to the investor type and how much you already know about the required fees and procedures.
A simplified company-formation estimate for local users.
Open calculatorA detailed cost model for a foreign investor who knows the inputs.
Open calculatorA guided adviser for a tailored estimate and establishment checklist.
The foreign investor advisor combines an editable Saudi business-cost estimate with a procedural checklist of authorities and setup steps selected from the investor's answers. It can compare entity-related setup fees, employment and social-insurance costs, estimated income tax and recurring costs while also indicating which government or service channels may be relevant.
Choose investor type, activity, city and legal entity, enter project and workforce information, select whether premises, a municipal licence, VAT-related review or Premium Residency are relevant, and replace the editable fee and tax assumptions with figures applicable to the project. The cost engine then calculates setup, labour, social-insurance and tax estimates, while the interface builds an authority checklist from the selected conditions.
The current shared-core calculation uses a fixed 15% VAT on its formation base, 11.75% Saudi-employer social-insurance rate and 2% foreign-worker social-insurance rate, while work-permit, levy, chamber, municipal, address, professional, taxable-profit, foreign-ownership and income-tax fields remain editable. Entity selection changes the registration and publication fees supplied to the calculator. Investor type, nationality, activity, city, partner count, capital and Saudi headcount are captured for project context and reporting but do not directly change the current shared-core cost formula unless another cost input is changed.
Using the regression scenario for an LLC with 1 foreign worker, Saudi annual payroll 120,000, foreign annual payroll 120,000, premises and municipal requirements enabled, work-permit fee 100 and all other variable fees and taxable profit set to zero, the calculator returns registration 1,200, publication 500, setup VAT 255, setup cost 1,955, social insurance 16,500, labour cost 16,600, following-year estimate 16,600 and first-year estimate 18,555.
The advisor is a planning aid, not legal, tax, licensing or investment advice. Rates, fees, eligibility and required authorities can change. Verify current requirements directly with the relevant Saudi authorities and professional advisers before relying on the estimate or checklist.
Investment registration, Saudi Business Center, commercial registration, chamber and social insurance are included as core steps. Business-address guidance is added when premises are selected, Balady when a municipal licence is selected, HRSD when foreign workers are entered, ZATCA when the tax/VAT option is selected and Premium Residency when that option is selected.
Not in the current shared-core formula. They are useful project and report inputs, but the numeric estimate changes through the fee, payroll, workforce, ownership, profit, entity and related cost fields implemented by the cost engine.
No. It is a planning checklist generated from the selected answers. Actual licensing, investment, employment, tax, municipal and sector requirements can depend on the exact activity, entity, ownership structure and current rules.
These sources are used to verify terminology, formulas, and information related to this calculator.