SOCPA VAT Specialist Exam Study Plan: 30 Days, Two Weeks and the Final Week

Last verified: 21 October 2026. Exam details can change, so check the VAT Specialist exam page on the SOCPA website before you start. This is an independent guide and is not affiliated with the Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) or any government body.

The SOCPA VAT Specialist exam is practical: more than half of it comes from three topics, and many questions are cases with figures and dates. This plan is ordered by the official topic weights and lists the traps that come up again and again. For an explanation of the eight topics and their references, see the exam content guide.

Numbers to build your plan on

Rank the topics by number of questions

SOCPA publishes a percentage range for each topic. Here is the number of questions in each, and the plan follows it:

The first three topics come to 36 questions, the pass mark. But do not stop there: hardly anyone gets every question in a topic right, and the other five topics add up to 24 questions, most of them easier to memorise.

What this site offers for your plan

• The free practice test: 10 free questions covering the main topics, no sign-up needed, with the answer, an explanation and your score at the end. Start here to see where you stand.
• The practice area: practise topic by topic, with every answer explained and tied to the article behind it, go back to your mistakes in the mistakes notebook, and take a timed mock exam of 60 questions in 150 minutes, passed at 60%.
• 10 questions are free. The full question bank and timed mock exams need a pass for this exam (7 days or lifetime).

SOCPA's own resources: the free practice questions, the VAT Specialist study kit (SAR 230 including VAT, according to the store page) and the preparatory programme (12 working days; SAR 4,140 online or SAR 5,750 in person including VAT, according to the 2026 schedule).

30 days or more before the exam: the big topics

1. Measure your starting point. Take the free practice test and look through SOCPA's practice questions to learn the style, but save working through them in full for the last two weeks.
2. Start with topic 4 (about 15 questions), straight from the Implementing Regulations: deemed supplies and gifts (Article 15), the SAR 375,000 and 187,500 registration thresholds and the 30-day deadline, the tax point, place of supply, exempt and zero-rated supplies (Articles 29 to 36), fair market value (Article 38), proportional deduction (Article 51), capital assets (Article 52) and the reverse charge.
3. Then topic 5 (about 11): tax invoices and their deadlines (Article 53), credit and debit notes (Article 54), the tax period (Article 58), filing and correcting returns (Articles 62 and 63), records (Article 66) and accounting entries. Work through return problems until you can fill in the boxes without hesitating.
4. Then topic 7 (about 10): read ZATCA's sector guidelines: real estate, contracting, healthcare, financial services, insurance, telecoms and the digital economy, retail, transport and investment metals. In each guide, focus on what departs from the general rule.

30 to 14 days out: the remaining topics and your mistakes notebook

• Topic 6 (about 7): learn the penalties in Articles 40 to 47 of the Law: failing to register, SAR 10,000; an incorrect return, 50% of the difference; late filing, 5% to 25%; late payment, 5% for each month or part of a month. Then instalments (Article 60 of the Regulations) and audits and assessments (Article 64).
• Topic 1 (about 6): revise the accounting equation, journal entries, cost of goods sold, the allowance for doubtful debts and depreciation. These are reliable marks if you practise them.
• Topic 8 (about 5): read the new RETT Law in full (20 articles), then the exemptions in its Regulations and their time conditions.
• Topics 2 and 3 (about 6 together): types of taxes, double taxation, evasion and avoidance, the features of VAT and how it differs from a sales tax.

Make the mistakes notebook the centre of your daily study: redo every problem you got wrong without looking at the solution, and note the article that governs it.

The last two weeks: timed mock exams

• Take a full mock exam (60 questions in 150 minutes) every few days in one sitting, without a calculator unless you have confirmed one is allowed.
• Work through SOCPA's practice questions in a timed session, then compare your answers with theirs.
• If you average more than two and a half minutes per question, skip long problems and come back to them at the end.
• Make sure you have booked your seat on the ETEC e-services portal within the set window; candidates who do not book a seat are counted as absent.
• Our suggestion: do not settle for scraping past 60%; aim for a comfortable margin above it in more than one mock exam.

The final week: common traps

• Exempt is not zero-rated. Neither carries output tax, but a supplier of zero-rated supplies can deduct input tax and a supplier of exempt supplies cannot. So exports (zero-rated) differ from renting out a home (exempt), and a business with exempt supplies applies proportional deduction.
• VAT-inclusive prices. If a price "includes VAT", the VAT is price × 15 ÷ 115, not price × 15%. Example: SAR 11,500 including VAT contains SAR 1,500 of VAT, not 1,725.
• Market value between related parties. Fair market value replaces the agreed price only when all three conditions are met (Article 38 of the Regulations): the supply is between related parties, its value is below fair market value, and the customer is not entitled to deduct the input tax in full. If the customer can deduct it in full, the agreed value stands even if it is below market.
• Old rules. Many notes predate the latest changes: since 10 April 2025, RETT has been governed by Law M/84 and its new Regulations; an error that understates the tax can now be corrected in a later return if its net amount is below SAR 15,000 (Article 63), whereas earlier editions set the limit at SAR 5,000; the standard rate has been 15% since 1 July 2020, not 5%; and sales of real estate are exempt from VAT and subject to RETT instead.
• The tax point is the earliest of the supply, the invoice and receipt of payment (to the extent of the amount received), not the contract date or the date of full payment.
• The two laws have different penalties. VAT evasion is fined no less than the tax and no more than three times the value of the goods or services (Article 40), while RETT evasion is fined up to three times the tax (Article 15 of the RETT Law). Late payment is 5% a month for VAT, and 2% a month up to 50% for RETT.
• Gifts and samples. They are not a deemed supply if they do not exceed SAR 200 per recipient per year (excluding VAT), with an annual cap of SAR 50,000.

The day before the exam

• Do a light review of your mistakes notebook and your card of figures, and do not start anything new.
• Have your valid ID ready and get to bed early; the exam starts at 8:30 am.

If you are starting late (less than two weeks)

Focus on topics 4, 5 and 7 by practising questions rather than long reading, then the penalties in topic 6 and the RETT rules, which are specific and easy to memorise. Take at least one timed mock exam and go through the list of traps. If you are not ready, you can ask to postpone at least 25 days before the exam to one of the next two sittings.

If this is your second attempt

You may resit four times at SAR 1,200 per attempt, and anyone who fails a fifth attempt must attend SOCPA's preparatory programme. So do not pay for another attempt until you know where you fell short: take a full mock exam, rank the topics by your mistakes and start with the weakest of the big ones. Registration details are in the registration guide.