Some Important Elements of the Alms (Zakat) Base which Raise Dispute between the Zakat and Income Tax Departments (ZITD) and the Zakat Payers in the Kingdome of Saudi Arabia, and the Causes of this Dispute and Some Suggested Ways to Eliminate or Minimize It.

This study attempted to investigate the opinions of the employees of ZITD in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding some important elements of the alms (Zakat) base which cause dispute between ZITD and the Zakat payers, who hold formal accounting records. The study proposed ways to eliminate or minimize this dispute, and attempted to discuss the subject from an accounting and Fight ( Islamic Jurisprudence) point of view. The study was divided into three sections: the first section discussed the most important elements which cause the dispute, and the opinions of ZITD employees who determine the Zakat base about the importance of each element, the second section presented the causes leading to this dispute, and the third section included some suggestions to eliminate or minimize this dispute.
 Thestudy reached the following conclusions and recommendations:

Consensus of the study subjects about the significance of elements causing the dispute between ZITD and Zakat payers, and about the proposed ways to eliminate or minimize this dispute.
Forming a committee consisting of members from the scholars of the Hanbaly Doctrine and academicians

specialized in Zakat accounting to establish some rules for determining the Zakat base.

ZITD should put forth more effort to increase awareness of Zakat payers of the importance of Zakat and convince them that collected Zakat is distributed to poor and needy people according to Islamic teachings.
ZITD should attempt to convince the Zakat payers of the necessity to abide by the Muslim Ruler orders that Zakat should be collected by ZITD, and that this leads to the Muslim being free from the obligation of Zakat.
ZITD should distinguish between methods used to determine net income for tax purposes, and methods used to determine net income for tax purposes; because net income for Zakat purposes is subject to Islamic teachings, while net income for tax purposes is subject to tax laws and regulations.
Conducting a similar expanded study to investigate the opinions of Zakat payers, and members of the preliminary and appellate committees regarding the elements of dispute, their reasons and the ways to eliminate or minimizing this dispute.