Oman lets its armed and security forces reclaim VAT on local purchases of weapons, ammunition and military vehicles

What changed in detail

Oman Tax Authority Decision No. 81/2025 was signed on 30 April 2025 (2/11/1446H) and published in Official Gazette No. 1594 on 4 May 2025. It amends the Executive Regulation of the VAT Law (issued by Decision No. 53/2021) by adding a fourth case to the schedule of additional cases in which VAT is refunded.

The new case covers VAT paid by the armed forces and security forces, in all their sectors, on local purchases of ammunition, weapons, military transport equipment and vehicles, and their parts and accessories.

The conditions attached to the refund are:

• a claim is filed with the Tax Authority for each tax period (every three months), and the total claimed must be at least OMR 15;
• the claim is made on the prescribed form with the tax invoice, or a simplified tax invoice with proof that the tax was debited from the claimant’s bank account;
• the Authority must decide within 30 days of receiving all required documents, otherwise the claim is deemed rejected;
• approved amounts, in whole or in part, are refunded within 15 days of notifying the decision.

Article 3 brings the decision into effect on the day after publication, 5 May 2025.

What it means

The refund case has applied since 5 May 2025 and is still in force in November 2026; the weekly feed holds no later amendment to it.

It is a refund, not an exemption or zero rate: the decision does not change how local suppliers tax these sales, and the forces recover the VAT they paid afterwards. Suppliers should keep issuing full tax invoices, since the claim depends on them. The 30-day deemed-rejection rule puts the onus on the claimant to file complete documents the first time.