CD 37/2017 — Excise Tax Executive Regulation

Factual summary

The Executive Regulation of the Excise Tax law. It sets who is liable when the primary person does not pay, registration and deregistration rules, Warehouse Keeper and Designated Zone conditions, stockpiling and release for consumption, export exemption evidence, deductions, the monthly Tax Period with returns and payment by the 15th day of the following month, refunds and price-list records. Cabinet Decision No. 198 of 2025 added self-registration by the FTA, allowed deductions in the following Tax Period, tied the refund claim period to the Tax Procedures Law and widened refunds for non-registered exporters from 1 January 2026.

What it means in practice Professional insight

Who: excise registrants, Warehouse Keepers and non-registered businesses exporting excise goods. What to check: the effective date of registration, the 15th-day return and payment deadline, the evidence kept for each deduction or export, and the 30-day notice for losses in a Designated Zone.

Key provisions

• Arts. 3, 4 Registration needs an application, a financial security and any extra record-keeping requirements; the Authority responds within (20) twenty business days. Registration runs from the first day of the month in which the activity starts; since CD 198/2025 also from the first day of the month in which an Art. 4(1)(b) person became (or should have become) aware of the non-payment, and the Authority may register a non-compliant person itself from the month the obligation arose. A person who will not regularly import or release goods from a Designated Zone may be excepted; 'regularly' means more than once in (6) six months, and four times in (24) twenty-four months counts as regular.
• Art. 6 A Registrant applies to deregister within (30) thirty days of no longer being liable for the Tax; a Registrant who stops the taxable activities is treated as no longer liable from the day after (6) six months from stopping, unless he shows he intends to resume within the next (6) six months.
• Art. 12 Excise Goods are released for consumption when produced in the State or released from a Designated Zone into free circulation, including loss or shortage in a zone or in transfer; there is no release where the Warehouse Keeper notifies the Authority within (30) thirty days of discovering a loss or shortage due to a cause the Authority accepts, or for a natural shortage that meets the Authority's standards and is notified and documented.
• Art. 15 A Designated Zone is a fenced free zone controlled by a customs department, or another area specified by the Authority, with security over entry and exit and an appointed Warehouse Keeper; it is registered on the Warehouse Keeper's application, may require a financial guarantee, and is treated as inside the State if it changes its operation or breaches its conditions. Goods move between zones only with a transfer document and the receiving Warehouse Keeper's confirmation.
• Art. 16 As amended by CD 198/2025, deductible Tax under Art. 16 of the Decree-Law is deducted in the Tax Return for the period in which the right arose or in the subsequent Tax Period; it equals the Tax previously paid on the same goods, supported by the purchase invoice, the supplier's declaration and evidence linking the goods, and export cases need customs or shipping evidence.
• Arts. 17–19 The Tax Period is the Gregorian month (the Authority may set a longer first or other period); the Tax Return is filed and the Payable Tax paid no later than the 15th day of the month following the Tax Period. As amended by CD 198/2025, customs departments reconcile the type and quantity of imported and exported Excise Goods based on a tax risk matrix set with the Authority.
• Arts. 21, 22 Excess Tax refund claims are filed within the period set by the Tax Procedures Law (as amended by CD 198/2025) and paid by the later of two months from the claim or (21) twenty-one days after an audit of it. Refunds in special cases cover foreign governments and diplomatic missions (reciprocity), persons registered in another Implementing State, and — from 1 June 2024 under CD 108/2023, widened by CD 198/2025 from 1 January 2026 — non-registered businesses that export goods on which Tax was settled by a Taxable Person or a person excepted from registration; claims cover at least one month and are decided within (20) twenty business days.