Accounting Software in Bahrain
Bahrain doubled VAT to 10% in 2022. Businesses over BHD 37,500 must register with NBR.
GulfAccount is built for companies operating across financial services, aluminium and downstream manufacturing, logistics and a dense population of licensed SMEs. Registration, filing, payroll and document rules are pre-configured for National Bureau for Revenue (NBR), so your ledger is filing-ready from the first invoice rather than reworked at period end.
Registration, filing and deadlines in Bahrain
- Mandatory registration
- BHD 37,500 of annual taxable supplies (mandatory)
- Voluntary registration
- BHD 18,750 of taxable supplies or expenses
- Filing portal
- NBR taxpayer portal
- Frequency
- Monthly where annual supplies exceed BHD 3 million, quarterly below that
- Deadline
- The last day of the month following the end of the tax period
- Record retention
- Records must be kept for 5 years (15 years for capital assets in real estate) and be available for NBR inspection in Bahrain
- Corporate tax
- No general corporate income tax; a 15% Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax applies to in-scope multinational groups from 2025
E-invoicing status
The NBR has not mandated e-invoicing, but VAT invoices must be issued in a machine-readable, auditable format and produced on request during an NBR audit.
Import VAT is paid at customs or deferred for approved importers, and reconciles to the OFOQ customs system.
Payroll and banking
SIO contributions are 15% employer and 8% employee for Bahrainis, and 3% employer plus 1% employee for expatriates, with the Wage Protection System mandatory for all private-sector employers. Salary files are produced as Bahrain WPS file lodged through LMRA-linked bank channels, and bank statements import from National Bank of Bahrain, Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, Ahli United Bank, Bahrain Islamic Bank.
Penalties to avoid in Bahrain
- Up to BHD 10,000 for late VAT registration
- 5% to 25% of the VAT due for late filing or late payment
- BHD 5,000 for failing to issue a compliant tax invoice
- Imprisonment and fines up to three times the tax for evasion offences
Confirm current figures with National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) on NBR taxpayer portal before relying on them for a filing decision.
In-depth guides for Bahrain
VAT Returns — Bahrain
Auto-calculated VAT filings.
Payroll & WPS — Bahrain
Run payroll with WPS files.
E-Invoicing — Bahrain
ZATCA & FTA e-invoicing ready.
Everything else included for Bahrain
Invoicing
Send tax-compliant invoices in seconds.
Quotations
Win deals with polished quotes.
Expense Tracking
Capture every business expense.
Inventory Management
Real-time stock across warehouses.
Financial Reports
P&L, balance sheet, cash flow.
Bank Reconciliation
Match transactions in minutes.
Multi-Currency
Trade in AED, SAR, USD & more.
Project Accounting
Track profitability per project.
Client Management
CRM built for finance teams.
Cities we serve in Bahrain
Also serving businesses in Riffa, Muharraq — the same registration thresholds, filing deadlines and invoice rules apply across Bahrain.
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