The owner of a flower shop has been sentenced to three years in prison for evading more than BD41,000 in value-added tax (VAT).
In January, the High Criminal Court found him guilty in absentia of tax evasion, ordered him to settle the outstanding BD41,175 to the National Bureau for Revenue (NBR), and fined him an additional BD41,175.
He filed an objection to the ruling, arguing that he had not been present during the first trial.
However, judges dismissed his objection after he again failed to appear for the retrial, leaving the original verdict in full effect.
“The court is considering the objection as if it was never made, because the defendant failed to attend the hearings after refusing to be brought from prison and providing no valid justification,” read the ruling.
The 63-year-old Bahraini businessman opened the flower shop in 2017. The business has been suspended by the National Bureau for Revenue (NBR) since mid‑2025 due to non‑payment of VAT.
According to NBR officials, the defendant filed eight tax reports through the bureau’s electronic system, covering periods from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the third quarter of 2024.
Despite registering with the NBR, obtaining a VAT number, and submitting the required reports, he allegedly never paid the tax owed. Another NBR officer explained that any business that generates more than BD37,500 in annual revenue from the sale of taxable products has to register with the bureau as a VAT-compliant establishment.
Business owners then submit reports of income generated by their commercial establishments on a quarterly basis. They are required by law to subtract 10 per cent from revenue and pass them over to the NBR.
According to the officer, once the reports are approved, owners are given an invoice to pay the VAT, and the case is sent over to collections at the NBR.
The defendant was found guilty of signing on and filing for taxes but not paying them within the legally-mandated period of time.
Records on the Sijilat commercial registration (CR) platform indicate that, under the same CR as the flower shop, he also owns an events management company and a cold store – both now defunct.
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