Registering for the SOCPA VAT Specialist Exam: Eligibility, Fee and 2026–2027 Dates

Last verified: 21 October 2026. Eligibility rules, fees and dates can change, so confirm them on the VAT Specialist exam page on the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA) website before you apply and pay. This is an independent guide; it is not affiliated with SOCPA, the Education and Training Evaluation Commission (ETEC) or any government body, and it cannot register you.

Registration involves two bodies: you apply and pay on SOCPA's e-services, then book your seat at a test centre through the e-services portal of ETEC (the National Center for Assessment, Qiyas). Two things catch candidates out: each sitting's registration window is only five days long, and anyone who does not book a seat in the set period is counted as absent.

The process at a glance

1. Check that your qualification falls under one of the five accepted groups, then apply on SOCPA e-services during the five-day registration window.
2. Wait for your application to be reviewed (within 10 working days), then pay the SAR 1,200 exam fee.
3. Once finally accepted, book your seat on the ETEC portal in the set period.
4. Sit the exam: 60 multiple-choice questions in 150 minutes (8:30 to 11:00 am), in Arabic only.
5. Check your result on SOCPA e-services; the pass mark is 60%.

Who can register?

SOCPA admits anyone who wants the VAT Specialist pass certificate from the following groups, according to the exam application service page and the exam page:

• Recognised qualifications: only qualifications recognised by the Ministry of Education are accepted. SOCPA's 2026 professional exams guide asks for the Ministry of Education equivalency decision for qualifications issued outside Saudi Arabia.
• Accepted majors: SOCPA's exams committee approves and updates the list of accepted majors. The accepted accounting majors list (ACC2022) covers accounting (code 041101) with 21 named variants, including financial accounting, managerial accounting, cost accounting, government accounting, tax accounting, zakat and tax, auditing, internal audit and Sharia audit, plus accounting information systems (code 041102).
• Groups 3 and 4: both require accounting credit hours (6 for group 3, 9 for group 4). SOCPA has rules for completing those hours and a list of accepted accounting courses, linked from the exam page. Read them before applying if your degree is in a major other than accounting. Group 4 must also attend the preparatory programme for the VAT Specialist certificate exam, the only programme SOCPA offers for this exam.
• Rules updated: the eligibility conditions on the exam and application pages were updated around 15 October 2026, so the groups and conditions in the 2026 professional exams guide (published early in the year) are out of date. SOCPA's website is the authority.

If you are not sure which group you fall into, read who the SOCPA VAT Specialist exam suits.

Fees

The fee excludes VAT, so the total with VAT (15%) is SAR 1,380 per attempt. Payment is by direct payment with mada or a credit card (Visa or Mastercard), according to the 2026 professional exams guide.

Registering on SOCPA e-services, step by step

1. Create an account on SOCPA e-services under "New user registration", enter your basic details and press "Send". An activation email will follow; if you cannot find it, check your junk folder.
2. Sign in with your national ID or iqama number and password, then enter the verification code sent to your mobile before it expires.
3. Choose "Professional Exams", then "Register", then "Apply"; fill in the required details and press "Next".
4. Attach the documents (listed in the next section), choose your exam city and payment type, then press "Save and pay".
5. Wait for the review: SOCPA processes applications within ten working days of receipt. If you hear nothing in that time, you can follow up by email at exam@socpa.org.sa.
6. Pay the fee once your application is approved, by mada or credit card.
7. Book your seat on the ETEC portal (details below). This is a separate step: being accepted by SOCPA is not enough on its own.

We have not walked through these portals ourselves, as they require signing in; the steps above come from the service page and the 2026 professional exams guide, and button labels may differ slightly.

Documents you need

• A colour personal photo (the 2026 guide says this is optional for women).
• A copy of your qualification: bachelor's, diploma, master's or professional certificate.
• SOCPA's "declaration and authorisation" form so it can verify your qualification, or an equivalency decision, or a certificate verification report. The 2026 guide requires the Ministry of Education equivalency decision for qualifications issued outside Saudi Arabia.
• A copy of your passport if you are not Saudi.
• A statement that you have completed more than 50% of your study-plan credit hours, on SOCPA's form (or a university statement that contains the form's details) (group 1).
• Proof of accounting credit hours, if your group requires them (groups 3 and 4).

2026 and 2027 exam dates and registration windows

The exam runs four times a year, from 8:30 to 11:00 am. These are the dates as published on SOCPA's exam page:

Registration for the 23 November 2026 sitting closed on 19 October. If you missed it, the next sitting is on 4 February 2027, with registration open from 27 to 31 December 2026. Have your documents ready before the window opens, because it lasts only five days. The 2027 dates come from the version of the exam page dated March 2026 and SOCPA may change them.

Booking your seat through ETEC

The application service page says that once final acceptance is issued, you sign in to the National Center for Assessment e-services and choose your test centre, starting 21 days before the beginning of the exam sitting period and for five days. If you do not choose a centre in that period, no seat is booked for you and you are listed as absent. Watch SOCPA's messages and your email after you are accepted.

Cities available, subject to seat availability: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Al-Ahsa, Qassim, Madinah, Tabuk, Abha and Al-Majmaah (men only).

Postponing the exam

You can apply to postpone at least 25 days before the exam date, and must then register for the next sitting or the one after it; in other words, you can postpone for two consecutive sittings. Older SOCPA leaflets gave a one-week deadline; the rule now is 25 days.

Failing and resitting

If you do not pass, you may resit four times, at SAR 1,200 per attempt. If you fail the fifth attempt, you must attend SOCPA's VAT Specialist preparatory programme and are then treated as a new applicant for exam purposes. Five attempts therefore cost SAR 6,000 (before any VAT) before the preparatory programme becomes compulsory.

Results

You see your result by signing in to SOCPA e-services on the results date set for each sitting in the table above, roughly three to four weeks after the exam. The pass mark is 60% out of 100. The topics and their weights are in the syllabus guide.

HRDF (Hadaf) support

SOCPA's exam page says the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF, Hadaf) runs a professional certificates support programme that reimburses the VAT Specialist exam fee costs after you obtain the certificate, and that the certificate has been included in the programme since April 2021:

• Maximum reimbursement for the certificate: SAR 4,600.
• Maximum reimbursement for training: SAR 8,050.

Eligibility and how to claim are set by HRDF, not SOCPA, and the exam page was last updated in February 2024, so check the amounts and conditions on HRDF's website before counting on them, and keep your payment receipts.

Violations that can cost you your place

Under SOCPA's rules on professional exam violations, giving misleading information, hiding information or using any fraudulent means to gain admission to an exam is a violation. Penalties can go as far as being marked as failed, cancellation of previous results and a ban from SOCPA exams for up to six consecutive years. Submit complete, accurate documents.

Contact

SOCPA's unified number 8004404444, WhatsApp 0550660368 during official working hours (8 am to 3 pm), or the ticket system in SOCPA e-services.

After you register

In every published 2026 and 2027 sitting, exam day falls five weeks after registration closes. Use them with the study plan: start with the free practice test, which has 10 free questions covering the main topics so you can see where you stand, then practise in the question bank across all eight topics, and take the mock exam under the 150-minute limit before the day. Back to the exam page: SOCPA VAT Specialist exam.