Saudi payroll in 2026: Mudad, GOSI and Qiwa explained

Saudi payroll rests on three government platforms. Mudad receives your monthly wage protection file. The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) collects social insurance. Qiwa holds the documented employment contracts that Nitaqat now counts. Make the three agree every month, and most payroll problems never start.

This guide is for the HR or finance lead who runs payroll for a company in Saudi Arabia. It explains what each platform expects, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and gives you a monthly checklist.

The three platforms at a glance

The three draw on each other. HRSD says it checks the Mudad file against social insurance records. Since 15 April 2026, Nitaqat counts Saudi employees from the contracts documented on Qiwa. A mismatch on one platform shows up on another.

Mudad and the Wage Protection Program

What Mudad is for

The Wage Protection Program checks that private-sector employers pay wages in full and on time. Each month you upload a wage protection file showing what each employee was paid.

The 30-day rule

HRSD shortened the allowed period for uploading wage protection files on Mudad from 60 days to 30 days, from 1 March 2025. HRSD said 91% of establishments were already uploading within 30 days of the due date. In practice: upload each month's file within the month after the pay date, not two months later.

How the upload works

HRSD says wage protection files can now be uploaded only through the compliance system in Mudad. The steps are:

1. Choose the establishment.
2. Choose the wage type and the month.
3. Choose the file and confirm.

The file is processed straight away and checked against social insurance records. Your compliance rate updates at once. Where the system finds an irregularity in an employee's wage, the establishment owner or their delegate can review it and give a justification.

The wage clause can now be enforced

In October 2025 HRSD and the Ministry of Justice launched an initiative that makes the wage clause of a contract documented on Qiwa an enforceable instrument. HRSD's guideline says a worker who has not received full wages within 30 days of the due date can file an execution request on Najiz, the Ministry of Justice platform. Verification runs through Mudad.

For an employer, the message is plain. The wage in the documented contract, the wage you register with GOSI and the wage in your Mudad file should tell the same story.

Penalties

We have not quoted fine amounts for late or missing wage protection files. We could not confirm the current table from an official source on the date we checked. Read HRSD's current violations table before you rely on any figure.

GOSI: who pays what

GOSI runs three branches that matter for payroll:

• Annuities, the pension branch. Saudis only.
• SANED, unemployment insurance. Saudis only.
• Occupational hazards, work injury cover. Every employee, Saudi and non-Saudi.

Rates for people who were contributing before 3 July 2024

Contributions are calculated on the contributory wage registered with GOSI. GOSI caps that wage at SAR 45,000 a month. The minimum contributory wage is SAR 1,500 for annuities and SAR 400 for occupational hazards.

New entrants under the 2024 law

A new Social Insurance Law took effect on 3 July 2024. It applies to new entrants to the labour market who had no contribution periods before that date. People who were already contributing stay on the older rates above.

For new entrants, the annuities rate starts at 18% for the first 12 months and then rises by one percentage point a year until it reaches 22%, split equally: 11% from the employer and 11% from the employee. GOSI says the first increase took effect on 1 July 2025. SANED stays at 1.5% and occupational hazards at 2%.

Before each run, check which step of the increase applies on GOSI's own pages. Do not assume.

Watch the rule, not the hire date. The test is whether the person had contribution periods before 3 July 2024, not when they joined your company. Someone you hired in 2025 who worked for another Saudi employer in 2023 is on the older rates.

Worked examples

These examples use made-up wages and the rates for people contributing before 3 July 2024.

A Saudi employee with a contributory wage of SAR 12,000:

• Annuities: 9% each, so SAR 1,080 from the employee and SAR 1,080 from the employer.
• SANED: 0.75% each, so SAR 90 from each.
• Occupational hazards: 2% from the employer, so SAR 240.
• The employee's deduction is SAR 1,170. The employer pays SAR 1,410 on top of the wage.

A non-Saudi employee with the same wage: only occupational hazards apply. The employer pays 2%, which is SAR 240. Nothing is deducted from the employee for GOSI.

A Saudi employee with a wage of SAR 50,000: contributions are calculated on SAR 45,000, the monthly cap, not on SAR 50,000.

Qiwa: documented contracts

What documentation means

HRSD requires employment contracts to be documented electronically through Qiwa. The employer creates the contract in Qiwa's contract management service. The worker then approves it, rejects it or asks for changes from their own Qiwa account. When both sides agree, the contract is documented.

The 2026 targets

HRSD raised the target documentation rate to 85% from 30 April 2026 and to 90% by 30 June 2026. The rate is your documented contracts divided by all your employees' contracts. HRSD says falling short may affect your access to services linked to compliance.

Why payroll should care

Since 15 April 2026, HRSD calculates Nitaqat Saudization rates from contracts documented on Qiwa. HRSD says documenting Saudi employees' contracts on Qiwa is a requirement for them to count. A Saudi employee you pay every month, but whose contract is still waiting for approval on Qiwa, may not count toward your band.

Nitaqat in one paragraph

Nitaqat, Saudi Arabia's Saudization programme, places each establishment in one of five bands: Platinum, High Green, Mid Green, Low Green or Red. Placement depends on your Saudization rate and your number of employees. HRSD launched a new phase of the Nitaqat Mutawar programme that starts in 2026 and runs for three years. For how the colour is worked out, read Nitaqat bands in 2026.

How the three fit together each month

Think of one employee's month as a chain:

1. The contract on Qiwa says what you agreed to pay.
2. The wage registered with GOSI is what contributions are charged on.
3. The payroll run works out what you actually pay this month, including leave and deductions.
4. The Mudad file shows HRSD what you paid.
5. The bank transfer puts the money in the employee's account.

If any link disagrees with the others, someone will ask why. Common gaps are a pay rise entered in payroll but not on Qiwa or with GOSI, a new joiner paid before the contract is approved, and a leaver still on the Mudad file.

Monthly Saudi payroll checklist

Before the run

1. Check that every new joiner's contract is documented on Qiwa, or chase the employee's approval.
2. Check that every joiner is registered with GOSI with the right contributory wage.
3. Enter pay changes, and update the contract and GOSI wage where they change.
4. Close attendance, overtime and leave for the period.

The run

5. Compute payroll and compare it with last month: headcount, gross, net and large changes per person.
6. Check GOSI deductions against the rates, including new entrants under the 2024 law.
7. Approve with a second person.

After the run

8. Pay through the bank on the pay date.
9. Upload the wage protection file through Mudad within the allowed period.
10. Review your Mudad compliance rate and justify any irregularities.
11. Check your Qiwa documentation rate against the 90% target.
12. Post payroll to the ledger and keep the evidence.

Common problems and what to do

Who does what in your team

The exact split depends on your size. What matters is that every task has one owner and one checker, and that the checker is not the person who did the work.

Joiners and leavers

Most mismatches happen at the edges of employment. When someone joins, make sure they appear on all three platforms, with the same wage, before their first pay date. When someone leaves, make sure the contract, the GOSI registration and the next Mudad file all reflect the leaving date. The end-of-service award is a separate calculation under the Labor Law and is not covered here.

What we could not confirm

We checked the official sources listed below on 8 October 2026. Three points were not clear enough to state:

• Fine amounts for wage protection violations. Check HRSD's current table.
• The current step of the annuities increase for new entrants. Check GOSI before each run.
• How Nitaqat's calculation uses Qiwa data in detail. HRSD has said which contracts count. It has not published the full method in what we read.

How Tarleaks helps

Tarleaks Payroll has a Saudi pack with two GOSI rate sets, split at 3 July 2024 by hire date, plus the employer's occupational hazards share for everyone and the SAR 45,000 cap. Because the law decides by earlier contributions, not hire date, check people who joined you after that date. It writes a Mudad payroll file and stops a file where deductions exceed half of salary. HR stores each person's GOSI number and Qiwa contract status. The file is unsigned: upload it through your own Mudad account.

What to do next

• Run this month's checklist and note every mismatch between Qiwa, GOSI and payroll.
• Check your Qiwa documentation rate today against the 90% target.
• Read Nitaqat bands in 2026 to see how documented contracts affect your band.
• Selling to businesses in Saudi Arabia? Check which ZATCA e-invoicing wave you are in.
• Also paying people in the UAE? Read the UAE WPS payroll guide.
• Book a demo to see Tarleaks Payroll with sample Saudi data.

Questions people ask

What is Mudad?

Mudad is the platform through which Saudi employers upload their monthly wage protection file. Since 1 March 2025 the allowed upload period is 30 days instead of 60.

What GOSI contribution does an employer pay for a non-Saudi employee?

2% of the contributory wage for occupational hazards, paid entirely by the employer. Non-Saudis are not covered by the annuities branch.

What are the GOSI rates for Saudi employees?

For people who were contributing before 3 July 2024: annuities 9% from the employer and 9% from the employee, SANED 0.75% each, and 2% occupational hazards paid by the employer. New entrants under the 2024 law start at 18% for annuities, rising by one point a year to 22%.

Why do Qiwa contracts matter for payroll?

Since 15 April 2026, Nitaqat Saudization rates are calculated from contracts documented on Qiwa. A documented contract's wage clause can also be enforced if wages go unpaid.

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General information, not legal advice. Checked against the official sources listed on this page on 8 October 2026. Confirm rates and deadlines on the HRSD, GOSI, Mudad and Qiwa platforms before each run.