Expand a Jordanian Company to Saudi Arabia: A 90-Day Plan for 2027

To expand a Jordanian company to Saudi Arabia in 2027, register with the Ministry of Investment (MISA) first, then obtain a commercial registration (CR) from the Ministry of Commerce, then register with ZATCA, GOSI and Mudad and open a bank account. Several rules have changed, yet many guides still describe the old ones:

• Myth: you need a MISA investment licence. Fact: the updated Investment Law (Royal Decree M/19 of 1446H, in force since February 2025) replaced licensing with registration; you register with MISA before investing, then issue the CR and any sector licences.
• Myth: the CR expires and must be renewed. Fact: under the new Commercial Register Law you confirm its data electronically every 12 months; 3 months late, it is suspended, and after a year of suspension it is cancelled.
• Myth: you need a CR in each city. Fact: one CR covers all of an establishment's activities across the Kingdom.
• Myth: Jordan and Saudi Arabia have no tax treaty. Fact: a double tax agreement has been in force since 1 September 2017.

For investment registration, MISA's frequently asked questions list what a foreign company submits through the Invest Saudi platform: the Jordanian company's CR and last fiscal year's financial statements, authenticated by the Saudi Embassy. The Implementing Regulations give MISA 10 working days to notify you once all requirements are met; the certificate is issued in Arabic only, and declarations must be updated every year. Ask a licensed advisor first whether your activity is restricted for foreign investors or needs a Saudi partner or minimum capital.

Then the bank. A Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) circular of 28 April 2025 tells banks that the Unified National Number, which starts with 7, replaces the CR number as the official identifier, and that they can verify CR data electronically. Use it everywhere, including your ERP, and ask your bank early for its document list, since your wage protection (WPS) payroll file needs the account details.

Either way, a Jordanian-owned business in Saudi Arabia pays income tax, not zakat. ZATCA levies income tax at 20% (as of October 2026) on non-Saudi partners' shares in resident companies and on non-residents operating through a permanent establishment, such as a branch. Zakat, at 2.5% of the zakat base, applies to Saudi shareholders and GCC nationals treated like Saudis; Jordanian owners are not in that group.

The legal form changes the detail:

• Wholly owned subsidiary: 20% income tax on taxable profit, and 5% withholding tax on dividends paid to the Jordanian parent.
• Subsidiary with a Saudi partner: zakat on the Saudi share and income tax on the Jordanian share, so your books must support both bases.
• Branch: income tax on the profits attributable to it as a permanent establishment; ZATCA treats profits it transfers to related parties as dividends for withholding tax, at 5%.

Branch vs subsidiary: questions to ask your advisor

• Will the Saudi entity sign contracts, hold stock and hire staff in its own name, or only support contracts the Jordanian company signs?
• Is the Jordanian company ready to answer for the branch's obligations, since a branch is part of the same legal person?
• Will a Saudi or GCC partner hold shares, splitting the base between zakat and income tax?
• How will money return to Jordan: dividends, royalties or service fees? Withholding rates differ by type.
• Is the activity restricted for foreign investors, and do your target customers or tenders expect a Saudi company?
• How many Jordanian staff will relocate, and can you hire enough Saudis to keep the visa services you need?

Answer these before you register with MISA: the legal form drives the CR, the tax registrations and your Odoo setup. Confirm the final choice with a licensed advisor in the Kingdom.

Your Saudi entity deals with ZATCA from its first sale and its first payment to Jordan.

VAT: registration is mandatory once taxable supplies have exceeded SAR 375,000 over the previous 12 months or are expected to exceed it over the next 12, and voluntary from SAR 187,500 of taxable supplies or expenses. With signed customers, apply the forward-looking test on day one.

E-invoicing: Phase 1 has applied to resident taxpayers since 4 December 2021, which means no handwritten or spreadsheet invoices and required fields such as the QR code. Phase 2, integration with ZATCA's Fatoora platform, comes in waves. Wave 25, announced on 24 July 2026, covers taxpayers whose VAT-subject revenue exceeded SAR 187,500 in any year from 2022 to 2025, with a deadline of 1 February 2027. A company formed in 2027 had no revenue then, and ZATCA notifies each later wave at least six months ahead, so choose a Phase 2-ready system from the start.

Withholding tax: payments to a Jordanian parent are withheld at 5% on dividends, interest and technical or consulting services, 15% on royalties and other unlisted payments, and 20% on management fees, filed and paid within the first 10 days of the following month. The Saudi–Jordanian double tax agreement, signed on 19 October 2016 and in force since 1 September 2017, caps dividends and interest at 5% and royalties at 7%. It has no separate article for technical or management fees; ask a licensed advisor how yours will be classified.

Worked example: on 20 March 2027 the Saudi company pays its Jordanian parent SAR 200,000 for using the group trademark.

• Domestic rate of 15%: SAR 30,000 withheld, filed and paid by 10 April 2027.
• Treaty rate of 7%: SAR 14,000, if ZATCA approves a benefit-at-source request backed by, among other documents, a tax residency certificate from Jordan's Income and Sales Tax Department, authenticated by the Saudi Embassy in Jordan; Jordan has not joined the Apostille Convention.
• Otherwise: withhold SAR 30,000, then claim the SAR 16,000 difference through ZATCA's refund procedure.

If Jordan also taxes that income, the treaty requires it to credit the Saudi tax, up to the Jordanian tax due on it.

Hiring is where expansion plans usually slip: visas for the Jordanian staff you want to move depend on your Saudization range.

• Nitaqat: HRSD sets each establishment's required Saudization rate from its economic activity and headcount, and ranks it Red, Low Green, Medium Green, High Green or Platinum. Under HRSD's 2026 Nitaqat Mutawar guide, Red and Low Green establishments cannot apply for new expatriate worker visas. Rates change by activity and year, so check yours with HRSD.
• GOSI: the occupational hazards branch, 2% of contributory wages paid by the employer, covers every worker of any nationality; the annuities branch is compulsory for Saudi workers at GOSI's current rates.
• Mudad: wage protection files can only be uploaded through Mudad's compliance system, and since 1 March 2025 the window is 30 days, down from 60.

Odoo 20's Saudi payroll localization (Enterprise) covers all three: a GOSI integration that retrieves contribution rates, a Saudi WPS export built to HRSD's technical guidelines, and a Nationalization Report. It needs the bank's SARIE code, the Ministry of Labor establishment ID and each employee's National or Iqama ID. For the Jordanian side, see our guide to social security and payroll in Jordan.

Your 30-60-90-day plan

• Days 1–30: choose branch or subsidiary with a licensed advisor, authenticate the Jordanian CR and financial statements, apply for MISA registration, design the Odoo structure.
• Days 31–60: issue the CR and record the Unified National Number, open the bank account, register with ZATCA (VAT if the 12-month test applies, withholding before the first payment to Jordan, income tax before the first fiscal year ends), register with GOSI and Mudad, then create the Saudi company in Odoo and test ZATCA e-invoicing in Simulation mode on a copy of the database.
• Days 61–90: run the first payroll and WPS upload, check your Nitaqat range before requesting visas, sign intercompany agreements, post the first intercompany invoice and produce a consolidated P&L.

Government timelines vary: treat these as targets, not deadlines.

Odoo 20 can run the Jordanian parent and the Saudi entity as two companies in one database, each with its own currency, taxes and e-invoicing link. The Odoo 20 multi-company documentation covers the setup; for this structure:

• Two currencies: JoFotara needs the Jordanian company in JOD, and ZATCA onboarding needs SAR. Enabling multi-company moves a Standard subscription to the Custom plan.
• Two localizations: each company can use its own fiscal localization, but branches always follow the parent's, so even a legal Saudi branch is set up as a company in Odoo. Jordan gets l10n_jo and l10n_jo_edi for JoFotara; Saudi Arabia gets l10n_sa (15% VAT, withholding taxes, Phase 1 QR code) and l10n_sa_edi for Phase 2.
• Intercompany: with Inter-Company Transactions enabled in each company, an invoice the Jordanian company posts to the Saudi one creates the matching vendor bill there, and a confirmed sales order can create the purchase order. This needs Enterprise.
• Consolidation: map accounts across both charts, keep consolidation adjustments in a multi-ledger and view the group balance sheet and P&L with horizontal groups (Enterprise). Odoo translates equity at historical rates, P&L at weighted average rates and other balance sheet accounts at closing rates.
• Bilingual invoices: Saudi VAT rules require Arabic on tax invoices; the Gulf Cooperation Council Format option adds Arabic as a second language, and each customer's language setting drives the rest.

Our guide to Odoo for trading and import companies in Jordan covers multi-currency purchasing on the Jordanian side.

Next step: METCH is an official Odoo partner serving Jordan, and serves Saudi Arabia through its Saudi storefront, metch.sa, for ZATCA onboarding and Saudi payroll. Fill in the Odoo project questionnaire with both entities in mind, or review your group structure with us on the Odoo partner page.