The UAE Federal Tax Authority has issued an updated Taxable Persons Guide for Excise Tax providing revised rules on excise goods, tax rates, registration, reporting, and compliance procedures for importers, producers, stockpilers, and warehouse keepers.
The UAE Federal Tax Authority has issued an updated guide, Taxable Persons Guide for Excise Tax – ETGTP1, on 2 January 2026.
This guide is the main reference guide to Excise Tax in the UAE. It provides you with:
- an overview of the main Excise Tax rules and procedures in the UAE and how to comply with them
- assistance with the more likely questions Businesses may have, and
- references to more specialised publications and where they have been published.
The purpose of this chapter is to give a brief overview of the principles which govern Excise Tax in the UAE.
Excise Tax is an indirect Tax levied on specific Excise Goods which are either:
- imported into the UAE
- produced within the UAE
- released from a Designated Zone, or
- stockpiled in the UAE (where Excise Tax has not previously been paid on the goods in the UAE and stockpiling is undertaken for Business purposes)
Excise Tax is generally levied on goods which are considered harmful to the health of the general public. The aim of Excise Tax is, therefore, to discourage consumption of those specific goods by the general public.
Excise Tax is payable by any Person engaged in the activities listed above, specifically:
- Importers of Excise Goods
- producers of Excise Goods
- Persons releasing Excise Goods from a Designated Zone
- Stockpilers of Excise Goods, in certain cases, and
- Warehouse Keepers, in certain cases.
The Excise Tax will become a liability of another Person involved in any of the above activities,where the Person originally liable for the Tax fails to meet his Excise Tax payment obligation. In all other cases, where a Business or consumer purchases Excise Goods within the UAE, the Excise Tax should already be included in the price for the goods and is generally not reflected separately. In certain cases, Excise Goods will be physically labelled to indicate that Excise Tax has been paid in respect of those goods.
Amendments made in the guide include:
- Updates to Excise Goods and applicable rates;
- Updates to registration requirements;
- Updates in relation to the classification of sweetened, carbonated and energy drinks;
- Introduction of tiered-volumetric model for calculating Excise Tax on sweetened drinks;
- Updates in relation to the type of declarations and reporting;
- Updates and reference to the renewal process for Designated Zones;
- Updates to Deductible Tax provisions;
- Updates in relation to the use of the Product Registration Portal;
- Updates in relation to the Digital Tax Stamps Scheme;
- Updates on statute of limitation;
- Updates on requirements for access to appeal procedures and the procedure itself; and
- Added footnotes with legislative references.
