Odoo accounting and tax in Kuwait
Every Kuwait tax and accounting item we configure and test before a go-live, printed in full rather than condensed.
9 items Printed as checked, not condensed.
Tax rules that shape an Odoo configuration in Kuwait
Each item below is one thing the tax setup has to get right before go-live.
- 1
Kuwait has no VAT. PwC's Kuwait summary, reviewed 22 July 2026, states the GCC framework agreement is under discussion in Parliament while the draft law is under preparation by the government. Nothing is enacted.
- 2
Kuwait has no excise tax. PwC states plainly: "There are no excise taxes in Kuwait." Proposals on tobacco, sweetened drinks and luxury goods have not been legislated.
- 3
Customs duty is the GCC common tariff at 5% on the CIF invoice price, with exceptions, and higher rates on tobacco.
- 4
Corporate income tax is a flat 15% and applies only to foreign corporate bodies carrying on business or trade in Kuwait. Companies wholly owned by Kuwaiti or other GCC nationals pay no corporate income tax.
- 5
Three separate profit-based levies sit on Kuwaiti shareholding companies: Zakat at 1% of net profits on all public and closed Kuwaiti shareholding companies, KFAS at 1% of net profits on Kuwaiti shareholding companies, and National Labour Support Tax at 2.5% of net annual profits on companies listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange. Each has its own base, so they are three calculations, not one.
- 6
Kuwait imposes no withholding tax. Instead all public bodies and private entities must retain 5% of the contract, agreement or transaction value, or of each payment to any incorporated body, until a tax clearance certificate is produced. The final payment must be no less than 5% of the total contract value. This is a cash and AP process, not a tax code: your ERP has to hold, track and release retentions against certificates.
The reporting framework your Kuwait books sit inside
What your statements have to comply with, and what that means for the chart of accounts.
- 1
IFRS as issued by the IASB is required, and not only for listed companies. The IFRS Foundation jurisdiction profile states IFRS is required for all listed companies, financial institutions and other companies falling under the Kuwait Commercial Companies Law. The basis is Ministerial Decree No. 18 of 1990, amended by Decree No. 101 of 2008. Dual reporting with a local GAAP is not permitted.
- 2
Accounting records must be maintained in Kuwait and available for inspection. PwC notes records can be in English and may be held in a computerised system, which matters if you are deciding where to host the database and in what language to name accounts.
- 3
The Kuwaiti dinar has three decimal places. Odoo core already ships KWD with rounding 0.001, so the currency itself is right out of the box, but product prices, unit prices, tax rounding and any price list or import mapping must be set to three decimals or you will book rounding differences on every line.
Checked Localization notes on this page checked on 22 August 2026.
Rates, formats, thresholds and submission windows change. We configure against the rules in force at build time and confirm every figure with your accountant or tax advisor before sign-off. If a rule moves after go-live, it is a support ticket, not a rebuild. Read more on our Odoo localization service.
How we build accounting and tax for Kuwait
The delivery method behind the list above. The same four steps on a 10-user rollout and on a multi-company programme, with the depth scaled to the scope.
- 1 Chart of accounts from your accountant. We configure against the mapping your accountant signs, not a default template someone picked in the install wizard.
- 2 Every tax gets a test document. An invoice, a credit note and a period report per tax, checked against a figure your accountant produced independently.
- 3 Opening balances reconcile. Prior-period data is loaded and tied back to your last filed set of accounts before anyone posts a live transaction.
- 4 Filing outputs come out of Odoo. Reports are produced from the system, checked line by line, then handed over with a written procedure so your team runs them without us.
What we need from you to quote it
Bring these to the first call and you get a scoped, priced accounting and tax plan for Kuwait instead of a range.
- โ Your current chart of accounts and the tax codes in use today.
- โ The last filed set of accounts and the last filed return.
- โ The name of the accountant or tax advisor who signs off the configuration.
Services behind this work
The rest of the Kuwait localization detail
Each topic has its own page with the full item list, the same way this one does.
Accounting and tax in other markets we cover
Running the same rollout across borders? These pages carry the same depth for each market, so you can compare before scoping a multi-country phase.
Scope accounting and tax for your Kuwait rollout.
Send us the list above with your answers against it. We come back with what is configuration, what is a connector, and what is a build, priced before the project starts.