FTA Decision FTA Decision No. 6 of 2025 Federal Tax Authority

FTA Decision 6/2025 — Natural shortage of excise goods in a Designated Zone (consolidated 2026)

Federal Tax Authority Decision No. 6 of 2025 on the Standards, Controls and Procedures for Dealing with Shortage Within the Designated Zone due to the Natural Characteristics of Excise Goods

In force — amended Issued 17 June 2025 In force from 1 July 2025

Official Arabic text (opens in a new tab) English translation (unofficial) (opens in a new tab)

Official Arabic title
قرار الهيئة الاتحادية للضرائب رقم (6) لسنة 2025 — معايير وضوابط وإجراءات التعامل مع النقص داخل المنطقة المحددة الناتج بسبب الخصائص الطبيعية للسلع الانتقائية
Document type
FTA Decision
Number
6
Issued by
Federal Tax Authority
Issued
17 June 2025
In force from
1 July 2025
Applies to
Warehouse Keepers and Taxable Persons holding, producing or moving Excise Goods within a Designated Zone.
Current position
In force with amendments. The FTA consolidated text includes FTA Decision No. 1 of 2026, which extended the Declaration period to one year, set a 30-business-day deadline for renewing the Report, replaced the transitional rule, and made the Excise Goods definition cover any Cabinet Decision replacing Cabinet Decision No. 52 of 2019.
Topics
Excise Tax · Designated zones
Official text
Official Arabic text · English translation (unofficial)

Factual summary

Sets the standards and procedures for treating a Natural Shortage of Excise Goods inside a Designated Zone, meaning a loss caused by the nature of the goods themselves during production, storage or transport. An approved laboratory (Independent Competent Entity) inspects the process and issues a Report fixing the permissible percentage per Excise Good, and the Warehouse Keeper or Taxable Person declares the shortage to the FTA within that percentage while the Report is valid. Reports are renewed yearly, and Reports issued in the first 12 months from 1 July 2025 on applications made by 31 March 2026 are valid until 30 June 2027.

What it means in practice Professional insight

Who: Warehouse Keepers and producers of excise goods in Designated Zones. What to check: a valid Report from an approved entity for each Excise Good, declared percentages within it, the 20- and 30-business-day deadlines, and retained supporting documents.

Key provisions

  • Art. 2(1)–(4) Warehouse Keepers and Taxable Persons apply to an Independent Competent Entity (a laboratory approved by the Authority) to set the permissible percentage of Natural Shortage for each Excise Good within the Designated Zone; the entity inspects production and storage through field visits and sets the percentage on the inspection and actual data for no less than six previous months (or on the inspection and any actual data where the factory, line or product is less than 6 months old), and issues a Report that must be obtained and retained.
  • Art. 2(5)–(6) Changes that may alter the Natural Shortage percentage, including changes in the production line or storage conditions, are reported to the Independent Competent Entity within 20 business days so that a new Report is issued; documents proving the Natural Shortage (manufacturing process, production formula, expected percentage with supporting documents, equipment data, the Report and actual data for no less than 6 prior months) are retained and submitted with the Declaration.
  • Art. 2(7), (10) The Natural Shortage percentage in the Declaration may not exceed the percentage in the valid Report for that period; a Declaration may cover more than one Tax Period but not more than one year (as amended by FTA Decision No. 1 of 2026; originally six months), and no Declaration may be submitted unless the Report is still valid.
  • Art. 2(8) A new Report is applied for within 30 business days from the expiry of the previous one, showing the actual Natural Shortage for the preceding twelve months and the permissible or expected percentage for the following twelve months; it is valid for one year from the day after the previous Report expired if applied for on time, otherwise for one year from its date of issuance (as amended by FTA Decision No. 1 of 2026).
  • Arts. 3–4 The Natural Shortage is notified to the Authority through a Declaration not exceeding the latest Report; a committee within the Authority sets the conditions for, and approves, Independent Competent Entities, and the Authority publishes their names.
  • Art. 5 Transitional (as amended by FTA Decision No. 1 of 2026): a Report issued within 12 months from 1 July 2025 is valid from that date until 30 June 2027, provided the application was submitted to the Independent Competent Entity on or before 31 March 2026.
  • Art. 6 Published in the Official Gazette and effective from 1 July 2025.

What changed

  1. 17 June 2025 Issued
  2. 1 July 2025 In force
  3. 27 January 2026 Amended by Federal Tax Authority Decision No. 1 of 2026

Relationship chain

Law → decisions made under it → amendments → guidance and announcements; oldest first within each level.

  1. 17 August 2017 Federal Decree-Law FDL 7/2017 — Excise Tax Law In force — amended
    1. 24 September 2017 Cabinet Decision CD 37/2017 — Excise Tax Executive Regulation — Executive Regulation of this law In force — amended
      1. 17 June 2025 FTA Decision FTA Decision 6/2025 — Natural shortage of excise goods in a Designated Zone (consolidated 2026) — Made under it In force — amended
    2. 24 September 2017 Cabinet Decision CD 38/2017 — Excise goods, rates and the Excise Price (repealed) — Made under Arts. 2, 3 Repealed
    3. 24 July 2018 Cabinet Decision CD 42/2018 — Marking tobacco and tobacco products (tax stamps) — Made under it In force
      1. 6 November 2018 FTA Decision FTA Decision 3/2018 — Tobacco marking scheme: dates, fee per Mark and storage (consolidated 2026) — Made under it In force — amended
      2. 28 April 2019 FTA Decision FTA Decision 2/2019 — Marks on water pipe tobacco and heated cigarettes (consolidated 2026) — Made under it In force — amended
        1. 11 May 2020 FTA Decision FTA Decision 5/2020 — Unmarked shisha tobacco and heated cigarettes banned from 1 January 2021 — Amends Art. 1(4) In force
      3. 1 May 2019 Cabinet Decision CD 33/2019 — Penalties for tobacco marking (tax stamp) violations — Made under it In force
      4. 30 August 2021 FTA Decision FTA Decision 3/2021 — New-design Marks for cigarettes and water pipe tobacco (consolidated 2026) — Made under it In force — amended
    4. 4 August 2019 Cabinet Decision CD 52/2019 — Excise goods, rates and the Excise Price (repealed) — Made under Arts. 2, 3 Repealed
      1. 29 September 2019 Ministerial Decision MD 236/2019 — Customs codes and concentrate Excise Price under CD 52/2019 (repealed) — Made under Arts. 4, 5, 13, 17 Repealed
      2. 28 April 2021 FTA Decision FTA Decision 1/2021 — Calculating the average retail selling price of excise goods — Made under Art. 14(2) In force
      3. 3 January 2025 Ministerial Decision MD 1/2025 — Customs codes and concentrate Excise Price under CD 52/2019 — Made under Arts. 4, 5, 13 In force
      4. 22 September 2025 Ministerial Decision MD 249/2025 — Smoking cessation products excluded from tobacco products — Made under Art. 3(2) In force
    5. 4 August 2019 Cabinet Decision CD 55/2019 — Minimum Excise Price for tobacco products (repealed) — Made under it Repealed
      1. 29 September 2019 Ministerial Decision MD 237/2019 — Start date of the minimum Excise Price for tobacco (1 December 2019) — Made under Art. 3 Spent
    6. 27 November 2025 Cabinet Decision CD 197/2025 — Excise goods, rates and amounts, and the Excise Price — Made under Arts. 2, 3 In force
      1. 12 December 2025 FTA Decision FTA Decision 10/2025 — Sugar content of drink concentrates without reliable guidelines — Made under it In force
    7. 12 December 2025 FTA Decision FTA Decision 11/2025 — Additional cases for deducting excise tax — Made under Art. 16(1)(d) In force
    8. 24 July 2026 Cabinet Decision CD 137/2026 — Minimum Excise Price for tobacco products and e-liquids — Made under it In force

Official sources

Official Arabic text (opens in a new tab) English translation (unofficial) (opens in a new tab)

Last verified against official sources: 26 October 2026 · اقرأ بالعربية

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General information, not tax advice. Each record is checked against the official source; where they differ, the official Arabic text prevails.