The government intends to crack down on those companies not paying Zakat (tax), according to Ibrahim Al-Muflih, Director General of the Zakat and Revenues Department. He said that there are new draft regulations for collecting Zakat now being studied at the Experts Commission and related authorities. Al-Muflih said the draft regulations have increased the fines for evasion to 25 percent of the amount owed. He said there is the possibility of collecting the amounts in installments for those facing financial difficulties. Al-Muflih said the Zakat revenues over the past year were not affected by the global financial crisis. On the contrary, it increased by six percent compared to the previous year, jumping from SR6.2 billion to SR6.6 billion. He said the amounts were deposited daily into the account of the Deputy Ministry for Social Security in the Ministry of Social Affairs, for disbursement to beneficiaries. He said the Zakat revenues cover 60 percent of social insurance expenditures. To limit non-payment of the required amounts and to check on the budgets of companies, Al-Muflih stressed that control and auditing in this respect has been upgraded to four levels. This will start with auditing at the branches, then auditing at the headquarters of the Zakat and Income Department, followed by the Financial Revenues Auditing Administration at the Ministry of Finance and finally the General Auditing Board (GAB). Al-Muflih denied accusations that the department's staff had tampered with figures in this regard. – Okaz/SG He said the department will carry out a field check of the budgets of companies that are suspected of non
