P·1+2 SERVICE — RHQ SETUP & SUBSTANCE

A headquarters, not a mailbox.

Eligibility, incentive mechanics, entity and substance planning, and the relocation sequence — decided on arithmetic, executed to milestones.

01What you receive
  • D·1RHQ eligibility memo — whether the regime fits your revenue mix and regional footprintDecision
  • D·2Incentive model — the announced package priced against your substance cost, honestlyDecision
  • D·3Entity & substance plan — headcount, functions, premises, and governance that satisfy the rulesBuild
  • D·4Relocation sequence — filings, transfers, and hiring in dependency orderBuild
  • D·5Government-market access map — what RHQ status changes in procurement, specificallyAccess
02How it runs
PH·1

Decide

Revenue mix, substance cost, and incentive math on one page — including the case against.

PH·2

Structure

Entity, functions, and headcount planned to satisfy substance requirements on paper first.

PH·3

Relocate

Filings and transfers sequenced; the headquarters staffed and operating, not registered and empty.

03Saudi context

The mechanics this solves

The Regional Headquarters programme pairs a 30-year incentive package — announced December 2023, including 0% CIT and withholding on RHQ activities — with substance requirements and access to government contracting. It rewards firms whose regional arithmetic already points here; the memo tells you if yours does.

Timeline sequencerINS·1

An indicative corridor on stated assumptions — the engagement replaces it with your dates.

INDICATIVE CORRIDOR — 8–12 WEEKS

Attestation is the usual long pole; special approvals add their own clocks. Indicative, not advice.

04Fit, and the honest case

Is this the right engagement for you?

Who this is for

  • You run regional operations and are weighing whether a Saudi regional headquarters makes sense on the numbers.
  • You want the RHQ incentive mechanics modelled against genuine substance before committing.
  • You need the entity, substance, and relocation sequence planned as one, not improvised.
  • You want government-procurement access understood as a conditioned benefit, not assumed.

And who it isn't for

  • You want the incentives without locating real regional decision-making here — the package requires genuine substance.
  • You are establishing a single-market operating entity — that is standard legal enablement, not an RHQ.
  • You have not yet decided to have a regional hub at all — that strategy question comes first.
Why not have our global consultancy handle the RHQ?
A global consultancy can, and some do it well. What often gets lost is the arithmetic honesty: the RHQ package is valuable only if the incentive genuinely outweighs the cost of real substance located here, and only if the substance is real enough to hold. We model that break-even plainly, and if the numbers do not support it for you, we will say so before you commit — an answer a mandate paid to deliver an RHQ is not always positioned to give.
An illustrative situation

A group is drawn to the 30-year incentive and the 0% headline rates, and moves to set up an RHQ. On the arithmetic, the genuine regional substance the package requires costs more than the incentive returns at their scale. The right answer was a lighter structure now and a revisit as regional revenue grows. Modelling the break-even first turns an expensive assumption into a clear decision.

05Questions actually asked
What counts as substance? +

Real decision-making in the Kingdom: qualifying functions, resident leadership, headcount, and premises consistent with the rules in force. The plan specifies yours — a mailbox does not qualify, and we will not build one.

Who should not do RHQ? +

Firms with thin regional revenue, no appetite for resident leadership, or a structure whose tax posture worsens under the regime. The eligibility memo says so plainly when that is you — that page is the product.

Does RHQ status win government work by itself? +

No — it conditions access; it does not award contracts. The access map shows what changes in procurement and what still has to be earned.

06Related to this page

Run the RHQ arithmetic first.

A structured consultation, an NDA on request, and a one-page pathway memo afterwards — yours either way.

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