This feature comes with certain plans. If it is not in your menu, it is not in your business's plan.
Close the fiscal year first
Under Books open Zakat. Each fiscal year has a row. If you see the Close the year first chip, press Year-end close, finish it and come back. The base is read from the year-end balances, and a year still taking postings gives a figure that changes after it is filed.
The working is computed for a zakat payer holding statutory accounts. Financing and insurance activities, investment funds, BOT projects and the arbitrary basis follow other rules this screen does not apply.
Start the working
Press Start the zakat working beside the closed year. Four figures sit at the top: Total additions, Total deductions, Zakat base and Zakat due. While it is a draft it reads from the ledger each time you open it, and Recompute from the ledger tells you whether anything moved.
- Close the year
- Working
- Confirm lines
- Sign off
- File on ZATCA's portal
Fix unclassified accounts
If the card Accounts that were not classified appears, Books cannot tell whether those accounts are current or non-current, so they stayed out of the base. Correct their subtype in the Chart of accounts, or correct the line they belong to by hand. The working cannot be signed off until this is dealt with.
Review the lines that need your decision
Each line shows its article number, a short explanation and the accounts its figure came from. A line with an Assumption chip is a figure the ledger suggested and nobody has confirmed, because the ledger cannot know the answer alone:
- Confirm the line as it stands if it is right.
- Correct the line if it is not. A figure that differs from the ledger balance needs a Reason for the correction.
- Put the ledger's figure back, in the same window, to return.
Check the rate and the ownership
The Zakat rate section shows the equation based on the days in your fiscal year. Days in the Hijri year defaults to 354, and you can change it to 355 if that is what your assessor uses.
The working assumes the business is wholly subject to zakat. Where a partner is not Saudi or GCC, this screen does not split the base by ownership. Correct the lines by hand with a reason, or work out the share outside Books before signing off.
Sign off the working
Once every line is confirmed, press Sign off the working. This needs the tax-filing permission, held by the account owner and the accountant. The figures freeze and a provision entry is posted on the sign-off date, because the year it provides for is closed. If there is no zakat base, no entry is posted.
The screen then shows the Due on date and the Print the working button. Books does not file the zakat return: filing happens in ZATCA's portal.
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Zakat expense | 25,000.00 | |
| Zakat payable | 25,000.00 |
To change anything after sign-off, press Reopen for editing. Books posts a mirror entry dated today that reverses the provision without deleting it, and the figures follow the ledger again.
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