The government will bear value-added tax (VAT) on private educational services provided to citizens, the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority said on Saturday. The services include the school expenses, including the value of textbooks sold by private and international schools subject to tax and approved by the Ministry of Education. The authority explained that this comes under implementing the royal order that the state bears the value-added tax on behalf of citizens benefiting from the private education sector. The authority also confirmed that the educational services include assistances provided by private universities (for bachelors) that fall under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Also, educational and training programs supervised by the General Organization for Technical and Vocational Training are equivalent to the corresponding and similar academic certificates. The authority clarified that the mechanism for applying the state’s tax, bearing what’s agreed upon between the authorities concerned with implementing the royal order, stipulates that the tax is not collected for educational services covered by the citizens who benefit from it.