Accounting and Tax-Prep Support for Muscat Businesses

Omani proprietorships and limited liability companies pay 3% if all of these hold: registered capital of no more than OMR 60,000 at the beginning of the tax year, gross income of no more than OMR 150,000 for any tax year, an average of no more than 25 employees during the year, and activities that do not include air or sea transport or the extraction of natural resources. Banking, insurance and financial services, public utility concessions and any other activity the Minister of Finance designates are also excluded. SME taxpayers still file income tax returns (Worldwide Tax Summaries, 7 July 2026). Petroleum companies are taxed at 55% under their production sharing agreements.

Each test has to be shown from the books. We keep a record of registered capital at the start of each year, gross income by month, a headcount for each month so the average can be read off, and an activity description for each revenue line. Whether the company qualifies is a decision for you and your tax adviser.

A single return of income must be filed within four months of the financial year close. It must be accompanied by audited accounts signed by an auditor registered in Oman, prepared under IFRS or an equivalent approved by the Oman Tax Authority. An eligible SME files within three months with a simplified income statement. Unpaid tax accrues interest at 1% per month, and failing to file, or filing an incomplete return, for example one without audited accounts, can lead to an estimated profit assessment (Worldwide Tax Summaries, 7 July 2026).

For a year ending 31 December 2026 the dates are 31 March 2027 for an eligible SME and 30 April 2027 for everyone else. An Oman-registered auditor signs the accounts, and we are not that auditor. What we provide is the closed ledger, the IFRS-basis trial balance and the schedules the auditor requests, ready early enough that the signing is not the bottleneck.

In the second quarter of 2025, 12,043 commercial registrations were issued nationally and 6,739 of them in the Muscat Governorate. Foreign investors took 3,783 registrations, and Muscat hosted 86.2% of those. Cancellations were high: 12,218 nationally, against 3,963 in the same quarter of 2024, with 4,006 in Muscat (Oman Observer, 2 August 2025).

For a Muscat company the numbers say two things. Many foreign-owned companies are starting here, so first-year compliance is a common task. And a large number of registrations are also being closed, so a clean wind-down record is as valuable as a clean start. We keep a closing file ready for each client: final ledger, creditor and debtor lists, asset disposals and payroll settlements.

Invest Easy is the Oman government's one-stop window for registrations, licences and permits, launched in April 2021. As of the Oman Observer report of 8 October 2022, investors could obtain licences from 18 authorities and approval for over 1,500 economic activities in one online transaction. A company that arrives through the portal still has to set up its books from nothing.

We build a first-year file that holds the registration and licence documents, the share capital record, the lease and bank account details, a chart of accounts matched to the activities on the licence and the opening reconciliations. Capital recorded at the start of the first tax year is one of the SME tests, so it goes in the file with its evidence.

Ministerial Decision No. 729/2024 came into force on 16 December 2024. It requires employers to transfer wages through the Wage Protection System within no more than three days from the end of the wage entitlement period (tax insight, January 2025). The three-day window is short enough that a payroll error found after the transfer means a correction in the next cycle, not a fix before it.

Our payroll support reviews the draft pay run against contracts and approved allowances before it is released, posts the payroll journal, and tracks leave and end of service accruals. The transfer goes through your bank. We do not summarise social protection contribution rates here, because published figures vary by source and nationality.

A foreign-owned company in Muscat has a short list. Register through the licensing portal. Keep capital and ownership records with their dates. Plan for the 15% rate unless the company is an Omani proprietorship or limited liability company that passes the SME test. File within four months with audited accounts signed by an Oman-registered auditor. Pay wages through the wage protection system within three days of the end of the period.

Each item is a date and a document, which is why we treat it as a calendar problem. We put the year's dates on the close calendar at onboarding and review them quarterly. We do not advise on investment structures or on whether an activity needs a licence.

The service is remote. We have no office, address or staff in Muscat or anywhere in Oman, and nothing on this page implies otherwise. A named contact keeps your books, runs the monthly close, prepares tax workpapers and supports payroll, in the accounting software you already use.

We do not audit, sign or file, and we are not registered as an auditor in Oman. We make no claim of approval from the Oman Tax Authority and we are not an e-invoicing service provider. See the rates page for pricing; your engagement letter sets out what is in scope and on what terms.