GOSI Contribution Rates Saudi Arabia: 2026 Employer Guide

By Cherie — Business Consultant, Noble Core · Updated June 2026

What GOSI is and why contribution rates matter

The General Organisation for Social Insurance (GOSI) is the Saudi authority that administers social insurance for the private sector and parts of the public sector. It collects monthly contributions from employers and employees, and in return pays out pensions, occupational-hazard compensation, disability benefits, and unemployment support under the SANED scheme. Every private-sector establishment with at least one employee — Saudi or expatriate — must register with GOSI and file monthly.

For a business owner, GOSI is not a background formality. Your GOSI file is linked to your commercial register, your Qiwa establishment file, your Saudization (Nitaqat) colour band, and your ability to issue or renew work visas and Iqamas. An unpaid GOSI invoice can freeze services across Qiwa, Absher and Muqeem within weeks. That is why understanding the exact gosi contribution rates saudi employers face — and how the contributory wage is defined — is one of the first operational tasks after your licence is issued.

If you are still at the licensing stage, our guide to company formation in Saudi Arabia walks through the sequence from MISA investment licence to commercial register to GOSI registration, so your payroll obligations start on the right footing.

GOSI contribution rates Saudi Arabia 2026: the full breakdown

Saudi social insurance is split into branches. Which branches apply to a given worker depends on nationality, not on job title or salary. The table below sets out the standard 2026 split. Figures are current as published by GOSI; always confirm the applicable percentages for your establishment on the official portal before running payroll.

Branch	Applies to	Employer share	Employee share	Total
Annuities (pension)	Saudi nationals	9%	9%	18%
Occupational hazards	Saudi and non-Saudi	2%	0%	2%
Unemployment insurance (SANED)	Saudi nationals	0.75%	0.75%	1.5%
Total — Saudi employee	Saudi nationals	11.75%	9.75%	21.5%
Total — non-Saudi employee	Expatriates	2%	0%	2%

The phased increase for new entrants

Saudi Arabia announced a reform to the pension branch that applies to employees who joined the social insurance system after the reform date. For this newer cohort, the annuities rate rises gradually — commonly described as a 0.5% annual step for each of the employer and employee sides over several years, moving the pension branch above the legacy 9% + 9%. Employees already registered before the reform date remain on the existing schedule. Because the applicable step depends on the individual’s first registration date, the safest approach is to read the rate GOSI itself applies to each worker in the monthly invoice rather than assuming a single blended figure across your payroll.

Wage floor and ceiling

• Minimum contributory wage: SAR 1,500 per month. Wages below this are still assessed at SAR 1,500.
• Maximum contributory wage: SAR 45,000 per month. Any salary above the ceiling is contributed on SAR 45,000 only.
• Annual wage adjustment: the contributory wage is normally fixed at the start of the year and can be adjusted once annually, within the limits GOSI permits.

What counts as the “contributory wage”

This is where most payroll errors begin. GOSI does not contribute on total cost-to-company. The contributory wage is defined as basic salary plus housing allowance (whether paid in cash or valued in kind). Other allowances are generally excluded.

• Included: basic monthly salary; housing allowance in cash; the assessed value of employer-provided accommodation.
• Generally excluded: transport allowance, mobile and fuel allowances, overtime, annual bonuses, commissions, end-of-service accruals, and reimbursements.
• Practical effect: an employee on SAR 20,000 total with SAR 12,000 basic and SAR 3,000 housing has a contributory wage of SAR 15,000, not SAR 20,000.

Because GOSI, ZATCA and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) each read salary data differently, keeping one clean payroll definition across your Qiwa contracts, GOSI file and WPS submissions prevents contradictions later. Wage figures declared in a Qiwa employment contract should match what is registered in GOSI.

Worked examples: what you actually pay each month

The examples below use the standard 21.5% split for Saudi employees and 2% for non-Saudis. They are illustrative; confirm your establishment’s exact invoice on the GOSI portal.

Employee	Contributory wage (SAR)	Employer pays (SAR)	Employee deduction (SAR)	Total to GOSI (SAR)
Saudi — junior	6,000	705.00	585.00	1,290.00
Saudi — mid-level	15,000	1,762.50	1,462.50	3,225.00
Saudi — senior (above ceiling, capped at 45,000)	45,000	5,287.50	4,387.50	9,675.00
Non-Saudi — any salary	15,000	300.00	0.00	300.00
Non-Saudi — above ceiling	45,000	900.00	0.00	900.00

A quick budgeting rule for a new company: assume roughly 11.75% on top of each Saudi employee’s contributory wage as an employer cost, and 2% on top of each expatriate’s. Add the labour-office levies and Iqama renewal costs separately — those are billed through the Ministry of Interior channels, not GOSI.

Who must register with GOSI

Registration is mandatory, not optional, and it is tied to the establishment rather than to the individual owner.

• Every private-sector establishment holding a commercial register, from the moment it employs its first worker.
• Foreign-owned companies licensed by the Ministry of Investment (MISA), on the same terms as fully Saudi-owned firms.
• Branches of foreign companies and regional headquarters entities.
• Saudi employees — registered for all three branches.
• Non-Saudi employees — registered for occupational hazards only.
• Owners and partners may in some cases register voluntarily under the self-employment or optional-contribution schemes.

The new Commercial Register Law effective 3 April 2026 introduced a unified national commercial register with an identifier beginning with “7” and no expiry date, replaced by an annual confirmation. Because GOSI pulls establishment data from the commercial register held by the Ministry of Commerce, keeping your annual confirmation current is now a prerequisite for clean GOSI and Qiwa records.

Step-by-step: registering your establishment with GOSI

Registration is completed online. Expect the establishment file to be created within one to three business days once the commercial register and Qiwa file are active.

1. Confirm prerequisites. You need an active commercial register from the Ministry of Commerce (via the Saudi Business Center), a national address registered with Saudi Post, and, for foreign investors, a MISA investment licence.
2. Open the GOSI portal. Go to gosi.gov.sa and choose Individuals / Establishments, then Register a New Establishment.
3. Authenticate. Sign in with the owner’s or authorised signatory’s Absher credentials via absher.sa and complete the one-time password (OTP) sent to the registered mobile number.
4. Enter establishment data. Provide the commercial register number, unified national number (700 number), activity code, national address, and the establishment’s main location. Most fields auto-populate from the Ministry of Commerce record.
5. Nominate the authorised representative. Assign a delegate with a national ID or Iqama number who will file monthly wage data and receive invoices.
6. Add bank details. Register the establishment’s IBAN so refunds and settlements can be processed.
7. Submit and collect your GOSI establishment number. Once approved, the number appears in your dashboard and syncs automatically with Qiwa.
8. Register employees. Under Contributors, add each worker with national ID or Iqama number, join date, occupation, and contributory wage. Saudi nationals are matched against national records; expatriates are matched against Muqeem and Iqama data.

Documents and identifiers you will need

• Commercial register certificate (unified national CR under the 2026 law).
• MISA investment licence for foreign-owned entities.
• National address certificate (short address / building number).
• Owner’s or manager’s national ID or Iqama plus Absher-registered mobile number.
• Company bank IBAN letter.
• Employment contracts registered in Qiwa showing basic salary and housing allowance.
• Iqama numbers and border numbers for expatriate staff (available via Muqeem).

How to check and pay your monthly GOSI invoice

GOSI issues one consolidated invoice per establishment per month. The cycle is predictable, and late payment carries a fine, so most companies schedule the payment as a fixed calendar item.

1. Sign in at gosi.gov.sa with your establishment credentials or via Absher.
2. Open Establishment Dashboard → Contributions → Monthly Invoice.
3. Review the contributor list. Confirm joiners, leavers and wage changes were captured before the invoice is finalised.
4. Note the SADAD bill number shown on the invoice screen.
5. Pay through your corporate online banking under SADAD payments, selecting GOSI as the biller and entering the bill number.
6. Return to the portal after settlement and download the payment receipt for your records and for any Qiwa or ZATCA audit trail.

Payment is due within the first 15 days of the following month. A late-payment fine — commonly cited at around 2% of the outstanding amount for each month of delay — applies after that window. Treat the percentage as indicative and confirm current figures on the official portal, since penalty schedules are updated periodically.

Action	Where	Typical timeline	Indicative cost (SAR)
Establishment registration with GOSI	gosi.gov.sa	1–3 business days	No fee
Adding a new contributor	GOSI portal → Contributors	Same day	No fee
Monthly contribution filing	GOSI portal + SADAD	By day 15 of following month	21.5% Saudi / 2% non-Saudi of wage
Late payment fine	Auto-applied	From day 16	~2% per month (indicative)
MISA investment licence issue/renewal	misa.gov.sa	3–10 business days	Fees suspended in 2026
Commercial register issue	Saudi Business Center	1–3 business days	~1,200–2,000
Chamber of Commerce membership	Local chamber	1–2 business days	~2,000–3,000 per year
Iqama issue / renewal (government fee)	Absher / Muqeem	Annual	~650 per year plus levies

All figures above are indicative and should be confirmed on the relevant official portal before you budget.

GOSI, Saudization and the Qiwa link

Your GOSI contributor list is the data source MHRSD uses to calculate your Saudization percentage under the Nitaqat programme. A Saudi employee only counts toward your quota if they are registered in GOSI with a contributory wage at or above the recognised threshold and are paid through the Wage Protection System.

• Saudi employees on very low registered wages may count as a fraction of a headcount rather than a full point.
• Part-time Saudi employees are counted proportionally when registered correctly in Qiwa and GOSI.
• Falling out of your Nitaqat band restricts visa quota, work-permit renewals and transfer requests through Qiwa.

Companies scaling headcount often find that the mechanics of Nitaqat bands, contributory-wage thresholds and quota planning need a dedicated workstream. Noble Core’s GOSI and Saudization service handles registration, monthly filing and band monitoring so your visa pipeline stays open while you hire.

GOSI for foreign-owned companies under a MISA licence

A company licensed by the Ministry of Investment follows exactly the same GOSI rules as a locally owned firm. There is no separate expatriate pension scheme and no reduced rate for foreign investors. The practical differences are sequencing differences.

1. Obtain the MISA investment licence. Licensing typically takes 3–10 business days, and issue and renewal fees were suspended in 2026 (previously SAR 12,000 and SAR 62,000).
2. Issue the commercial register through the Ministry of Commerce and the Saudi Business Center, and register the company’s articles with the notary via Najiz where required.
3. Register the national address and open the Chamber of Commerce membership.
4. Open the MHRSD labour file and the Qiwa establishment file.
5. Register with GOSI and add the general manager as the first contributor.
6. Register with ZATCA for VAT at 15% where turnover thresholds are met, and enrol in Fatoora e-invoicing per your assigned wave.

Because 100% foreign ownership is permitted in most activities, the licence path is far more direct than it once was. Our detailed breakdown of the MISA licence for Saudi Arabia covers activity classifications, capital expectations and the documents to prepare before you apply.

Adding, updating and removing contributors

New joiners

Register the employee in GOSI in the same month they start. The join date should match the Qiwa contract start date. For expatriates, the Iqama must be issued and active before the contributor record will validate.

Wage changes

Contributory wage is generally updated once per year, at the start of the calendar year, within GOSI’s permitted adjustment limits. Mid-year promotions may need to wait for the next adjustment window unless a permitted exception applies.

Leavers

De-register the employee in the month of departure. Leaving a departed employee on the file means you keep paying contributions for someone who no longer works for you, and it distorts your Nitaqat count. For Saudi leavers, an accurate exit reason is also what enables any SANED unemployment entitlement to be assessed correctly.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Contributing on total salary instead of basic plus housing. This inflates your monthly bill, sometimes by 25–30%, and is the single most frequent overpayment we see.
• Applying the 21.5% rate to expatriate staff. Non-Saudis are covered for occupational hazards only at 2%, employer-paid.
• Forgetting the SAR 45,000 ceiling. High earners should be contributed on the capped wage, not their full package.
• Missing the day-15 deadline. Fines accrue monthly and unpaid balances can suspend Qiwa and Absher services.
• Mismatched wages between Qiwa contracts and GOSI records. Inconsistencies surface during inspections and Nitaqat recalculations.
• Leaving departed staff on the contributor list. You pay for headcount you no longer have.
• Assuming one pension rate for everyone. Employees registered after the pension reform date may sit on a phased schedule; read each contributor’s applied rate.
• Registering GOSI before the commercial register or national address is active. The application will simply fail validation.
• Ignoring the annual commercial-register confirmation under the 2026 law — a lapsed confirmation ripples into GOSI and Qiwa access.
• Not downloading monthly payment receipts. You will need them for audits and for any refund claim.

Compliance calendar for a new Saudi employer

• Monthly, by day 15: review the GOSI contributor list, settle the SADAD invoice, download the receipt.
• Monthly: submit Wage Protection System files through Qiwa and confirm salary transfers match registered wages.
• Quarterly or monthly (depending on turnover): file VAT returns with ZATCA at the 15% standard rate.
• Annually: adjust contributory wages in GOSI at the start of the year; confirm the commercial register with the Ministry of Commerce; renew Chamber of Commerce membership; renew Iqamas via Absher and Muqeem.
• Ongoing: monitor your Nitaqat band in Qiwa before every hiring or visa request.
• As applicable: maintain municipal licences through Balady and, if you bid for public contracts, keep your Etimad profile and GOSI clearance certificate current.

Small and medium enterprises can also draw on support programmes published by Monsha’at, the Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority, which regularly publishes guidance for new employers navigating payroll and compliance obligations under Vision 2030’s private-sector growth agenda.

Getting a GOSI certificate of compliance

Many counterparties — banks, government tenders on Etimad, large corporate clients — will ask for a GOSI certificate confirming your establishment has no outstanding contributions.

1. Sign in to the GOSI portal as the establishment.
2. Open Services → Certificates → Certificate of Compliance (sometimes shown as Zakat and Compliance Certificate in tender documentation).
3. Confirm there are no unsettled invoices; if there are, pay via SADAD first and allow the system to update.
4. Generate the certificate and download the PDF. Certificates typically carry a validity period and a verification code that the recipient can check independently.

Keep a current certificate on file. Tender portals frequently reject bids purely because the attached certificate expired mid-process.

How Noble Core helps

Noble Core Ventures sets up and runs the compliance backbone for foreign and local companies entering the Saudi market. On the GOSI side specifically, that means getting your establishment file opened correctly the first time, defining a contributory-wage policy that is accurate rather than expensive, registering and de-registering staff on schedule, and filing every month so no fine ever lands.

• Licensing and formation: MISA investment licence, unified commercial register under the 2026 law, Chamber membership, national address, and bank account introduction. Packages start from SAR 36,999.
• Payroll and social insurance: GOSI establishment registration, contributor management, monthly invoice reconciliation and SADAD settlement.
• Saudization strategy: Nitaqat band modelling, hiring plans that protect your visa quota, and Qiwa file management.
• Wider compliance: ZATCA VAT registration and Fatoora e-invoicing readiness, MHRSD labour file, Muqeem and Absher administration for expatriate staff.

Because the rates, thresholds and portal screens described here are updated by the authorities from time to time, we verify current figures against the official GOSI portal before every filing cycle. If you are budgeting a first Saudi payroll, or you suspect your current contributions are being calculated on the wrong wage base, a short review usually pays for itself in the first quarter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the GOSI contribution rates in Saudi Arabia for 2026?

The GOSI contribution rates Saudi employers apply in 2026 total 21.5% of a Saudi employee’s contributory wage: 11.75% from the employer and 9.75% from the employee. This covers 18% annuities, 2% occupational hazards and 1.5% SANED unemployment insurance. Non-Saudi employees are covered for occupational hazards only at 2%, paid entirely by the employer.

How much GOSI is deducted from a Saudi employee’s salary?

A Saudi employee has 9.75% deducted from their monthly contributory wage: 9% toward the pension annuities branch and 0.75% toward SANED unemployment insurance. On a contributory wage of SAR 15,000, that is SAR 1,462.50 per month. The employer separately pays 11.75%, or SAR 1,762.50, making a combined monthly payment of SAR 3,225.

Do expatriate employees pay GOSI in Saudi Arabia?

No. Expatriate employees make no GOSI deduction from their salary. Non-Saudi workers are registered for the occupational hazards branch only, at 2% of the contributory wage, and that 2% is paid entirely by the employer. Expatriates are not enrolled in the pension annuities branch or in the SANED unemployment insurance scheme under current Saudi social insurance rules.

What salary is GOSI calculated on in Saudi Arabia?

GOSI is calculated on the contributory wage, defined as basic salary plus housing allowance, whether paid in cash or provided in kind. Transport, fuel, mobile allowances, overtime, bonuses and commissions are generally excluded. The contributory wage has a floor of SAR 1,500 and a ceiling of SAR 45,000 per month, so salaries above the ceiling are contributed on SAR 45,000 only.

When is the monthly GOSI payment due and what is the late fine?

GOSI invoices must be settled within the first 15 days of the following month. Payment is made through SADAD using the bill number shown on the establishment dashboard at gosi.gov.sa. A late-payment fine, commonly cited at around 2% of the outstanding amount per month of delay, applies after day 15. Confirm current penalty figures on the official portal.

How do I register my company with GOSI in Saudi Arabia?

Register online at gosi.gov.sa using Absher credentials. You need an active commercial register from the Ministry of Commerce or Saudi Business Center, a registered national address, and a MISA licence if foreign-owned. Enter your CR number, activity code and IBAN, nominate an authorised delegate, then add contributors. The establishment file is usually active within one to three business days.

Are GOSI contribution rates changing for new employees?

Yes. A pension reform introduced a phased increase to the annuities branch for employees first registered after the reform date, typically described as a 0.5% annual step on each of the employer and employee sides. Employees registered before that date remain on the legacy 9% plus 9% schedule. Check each contributor’s applied rate on the GOSI invoice rather than assuming one blended figure.

How does GOSI affect Saudization and Nitaqat?

Your GOSI contributor list is the data source MHRSD uses to calculate your Nitaqat Saudization percentage. A Saudi employee counts toward your quota only when registered in GOSI at a recognised contributory wage and paid through the Wage Protection System. Low registered wages may count as a partial headcount, and falling out of your band restricts visa quota and Qiwa work-permit renewals.