Saudi salary calculator

Saudi Arabia levies no personal income tax on employment income. The only statutory amount that can leave a payslip is the GOSI (General Organization for Social Insurance) contribution — and for expatriate employees, even that is zero. An expat's take-home equals gross salary; the employer alone pays a 2% occupational-hazards contribution on the contributory wage.

For Saudi nationals, GOSI is a real and meaningful deduction, so the interesting questions are: what rate applies to you, what salary it is calculated on, and what your employer contributes alongside you. The 15% VAT, like the UAE's 5%, is a tax on spending, not on salaries.

Under the rules that continue to apply to Saudis first registered with GOSI before 1 July 2024, the employee pays 9% into the annuities (pension) branch plus 0.75% for SANED, the unemployment-insurance scheme — 9.75% in total. The employer matches with 9% + 0.75% and adds 2% for occupational hazards, i.e. 11.75%.

Example: basic SAR 12,000 + housing SAR 3,000 gives a contributory wage of SAR 15,000. The employee deduction is 9.75% × 15,000 = SAR 1,462.50, and with SAR 1,000 of other allowances the take-home is 16,000 − 1,462.50 = SAR 14,537.50. The employer pays a further 11.75% × 15,000 = SAR 1,762.50.

The new Social Insurance Law (Royal Decree No. M/273 of 2024, in force 3 July 2024) applies to Saudis who join the labour market — i.e. register with GOSI for the first time — on or after 1 July 2024. For them, the annuities rate rises by 0.5 percentage points each July starting in 2025, from 9% until it reaches 11% for both employee and employer in July 2028. As of July 2026 the phased rate is 10%, making the employee share 10.75% and the employer share 12.75% including SANED and hazards.

The same law also gradually adjusts retirement ages for new entrants. Existing subscribers keep the old 9%/9% annuity rates and rules — which is why this calculator asks when you first registered.

GOSI is not calculated on your full package. The contributory wage is the basic salary plus the housing allowance (or the assessed value of employer-provided housing), subject to a cap of SAR 45,000 per month. Transport, phone and other allowances, commissions and one-off bonuses are outside the base.

That makes the basic + housing split the lever that sets both your deduction and your future pension entitlement. A Saudi employee earning above the cap stops accruing additional contributions — and additional pension — beyond SAR 45,000 of basic + housing.

For expatriate employees the payslip mathematics are simple: no income tax, no GOSI, take-home equals gross. The employer registers you with GOSI only for the 2% occupational-hazards branch, which insures work injuries at no cost to you.

Your real deferred compensation is the end-of-service award under Article 84 of the Saudi Labour Law: half a month's wage per year of service for the first five years and a full month per year after that, calculated on your last wage. On a SAR 16,000 wage, that is SAR 8,000 accruing per year during your first five years — roughly SAR 667 a month. Resignation before ten years reduces the award (Article 85), which our KSA end-of-service calculator models in full.

Compare offers on total cost of employment, not headline salary: gross pay, employer GOSI (for Saudis), end-of-service accrual, medical insurance (mandatory), and for expats the iqama, visa and flight costs the employer bears. Two SAR 20,000 offers can differ by thousands of riyals a month in what they actually deliver.

Then track what you keep. With no income tax, a disciplined saver in Saudi Arabia can put away a share of income that would be impossible in most economies — but only if the surplus is tracked and invested rather than absorbed. NOVOX tracks salary, GOSI, end-of-service accruals and investments across SAR and every other currency you hold, in one net worth.