The owners of an electronics megastore that went out of business in 2024 have been fined more than BD800,000 after being found guilty of evading value-added tax (VAT) owed to the government.
The Bahraini father, son and daughter – who co-owned the store – have also been sentenced to three years in jail each by the High Criminal Court for VAT evasions amounting to a total of BD83,000.
They were each fined BD83,020, and were ordered all together to pay an additional BD83,020 to the National Bureau of Revenue (NBR) for their outstanding taxes.
The now-defunct store, which was listed as a defendant in the court case as an ‘artificial person’, was further fined BD489,121.
This brings the total financial penalties of all four defendants to BD821,201.
The defendants, aged 67, 44 and 43, admitted to the charges and reportedly said that ‘debts piled up on the company’, and they had run out of money to pay their taxes.
The family business collected VAT from customers on their purchases of taxable goods but the defendants failed to remit these taxes to the NBR.
Between October 2022 and September 2024, a total of 22 tax reports were submitted by the company, except for the months of July and August 2024.
This coincides with the date of the store’s last post on social media, having in the past been active in sharing deals and offers from the showroom.
Despite regularly filing tax reports, the company failed to take action regarding the outstanding amounts, neither during nor after the legally-mandated period of 120 days.
Since the business failed to clear its balance, the NBR moved ahead with its lawsuit, asking the Public Prosecution to go ahead and take the matter to court.
Even during the trial, the defendants were given a chance to rectify the tax status, and were given a list of actions to take before the case is further heard in court – but once again they could not pay up.
The store’s records on commercial registration (CR) portal, Sijilat, indicate that the business was ‘suspended by NBR.’
Opened 20 years ago in Isa Town, the store sold not only electronic devices and appliances, but also toys, household items, cookware, apparel, sporting goods and more. As per Sijilat, the company has licence to practise 10 business activities.
In a statement to prosecutors, an NBR inspector stated that the company registered for tax purposes in 2019, and had been filing monthly tax reports since 2020.
Last week, the NBR announced that they conducted 1,216 inspection visits during 2025 as part of a continuous commitment to enhance the level of business compliance within the local markets and ensure adherence to all regulations.
The inspection was conducted over various sectors, such as construction, manufacturing, real estate, retail, plumbing, heat and air conditioning installation, travel agencies, auto repair, manpower supply, jewellery trading and other sectors. These efforts resulted in a high compliance rate of 86.5 per cent last year, reflecting the positive impact of NBR’s continuous oversight and awareness initiatives.
In total, 145 VAT violations were reported in which administrative fines have been imposed in accordance with the law.
The most commonly reported violations included failure to comply with VAT invoicing requirements, not displaying prices inclusive of VAT, absence of a visibly placed VAT certificate, failure to issue VAT invoices, and issuing invoices for non‑applicable goods.
The NBR urged people to report any violations by contacting the call centre at 80008001, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or through the National Suggestions and Complaints System (Tawasul).
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))