Saudi Arabia capital gains tax: none for individual investors
Saudi Arabia has no general personal capital-gains tax on private investing by a resident natural person, so the tax on your investment gain is zero. Shares listed on the Saudi Capital Market, other private assets and property alike, a disposal outside a taxable activity is not taxed. What matters instead is whether the gain arises inside a business, and property sales carry the 5% Real Estate Transaction Tax on the value, not the gain.
Verified as of 2026-09-18 against ZATCA and the Real Estate Transaction Tax Law.
Current rules
Taxes on selling shares, crypto and property in Saudi Arabia
What you pay when you sell
| Asset | Tax on the gain |
|---|---|
| Shares listed on the Saudi Capital Market (personal investment) | Nothing. Excluded from taxable activity for a resident natural person |
| Other private investments (held outside a business) | Nothing on the gain |
| Property (personal investment) | Nothing on the gain |
| Gains from a taxable activity | Ordinary income-tax items, business and profit-seeking activities remain within the tax framework |
| Real-estate transaction | Real Estate Transaction Tax at 5% of the value, charged instead of the 15% VAT, a transaction cost |
Sourced from the authority pages above, as of 2026-09-18.
Questions
Saudi Arabia capital gains tax questions
Does Saudi Arabia have a capital gains tax?
Not on private investing. Saudi Arabia has no general personal capital-gains tax on private investing by a resident natural person, and ZATCA's Income Tax page expressly excludes trading shares of companies listed on the Saudi Capital Market by a resident natural person from taxable activity. Whether you sell shares after a week or an apartment after twenty years, the gain itself is not taxed.
When would a gain be taxed?
When it arises from a taxable activity. ZATCA states that capital gains from taxable activities are ordinary income-tax items: business and profit-seeking activities remain within the tax framework. The personal exemption does not extend to non-resident and business cases.
What does selling property cost?
The Real Estate Transaction Tax: 5% of the real-estate transaction value. ZATCA states that real-estate sales are exempt from the 15% VAT and subject to the 5% RETT instead. It is charged on the transaction value whether you make a gain or a loss, so it is a transaction tax, not a gains tax.
Do I pay anything when I sell listed shares?
ZATCA imposes no separate personal CGT on private listed-share disposals. The charges you see on a sale, exchange and brokerage fees, are transaction costs, not taxes on the gain.
What exactly does ZATCA say about private investing?
Saudi Arabia has no general personal capital-gains tax on private investing by a resident natural person. ZATCA's Income Tax page expressly excludes trading shares of companies listed on the Saudi Capital Market by a resident natural person from taxable activity. Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/Pages/IncomeTax.aspx
How are business gains treated?
Capital gains from taxable activities are ordinary income-tax items: business and profit-seeking activities remain within the tax framework, and non-resident and business cases require separate analysis. Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/Pages/IncomeTax.aspx
How are real-estate sales taxed?
Real-estate sales are exempt from the 15% VAT and instead subject to the Real Estate Transaction Tax (RETT) at 5% of the real-estate transaction value. Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/RulesRegulations/Taxes/Pages/RETTRegulation.aspx and https://zatca.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Publications/Documents/Exemption%20of%20Real%20Estate%20Supplies-%20English.pdf
Does VAT apply instead?
VAT is 15% for taxable supplies; real-estate sales follow the RETT treatment above rather than VAT. Source: https://zatca.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Publications/Documents/Exemption%20of%20Real%20Estate%20Supplies-%20English.pdf
Is there a securities-transfer tax on listed shares?
No separate personal CGT on private disposals of listed shares was identified in the ZATCA source; exchange and brokerage charges are transaction costs, not CGT.