Tax on sugary drinks in the UAE

Gulf News

The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) on Saturday clarified what qualifies as sweetened drinks and electronic smoking devices that will incur an excise tax when a Cabinet decision on excise goods is implemented from January 1 next year. To know which drinks are included visit gulfnews.com/1.65985829 #tax #authority #UAE

Transcript

00:00Hi, my name is Donna and I'm a web news editor here at gulfnews.com.

00:13Today we are going to talk about a much discussed topic and one of our most read stories this

00:18week.

00:19Earlier this month, the Federal Tax Authority, FTA, in the UAE had announced that a new tax

00:25would be levied on sweetened drinks and e-cigarette liquids being sold in the market.

00:31This Saturday, however, FTA released a clarification on exactly which kind of products will be

00:36taxed.

00:37So basically, the sweetened drink tax does not only apply to your favourite soda or diet

00:43soda.

00:44It actually applies to any kind of beverage that has a sugar or sweetener added to it.

00:51So to start off, it could be a ready-to-drink beverage that you buy in store.

00:55It could be concentrates, gels, powders, extracts, anything that can be converted into a sweet

01:03drink is basically taxable.

01:06And what constitutes sweeteners, the FTA is using GCC standards to define what kind of

01:13sources of sugar will be included in this and what kinds of sweeteners will be included

01:18in the tax.

01:20So definitely check out our story on gulfnews.com for details on which or what these standards

01:26are.

01:27Now, are all sweet drinks going to be taxed?

01:31Maybe not.

01:32So the exempt drinks include the ones that have at least 75% milk content.

01:39It can be ready-to-drink beverages.

01:41It could also be beverages with milk substitutes used in them, you know, higher than 75%.

01:48So baby formula or baby food is not going to be taxed.

01:53Beverages consumed for special dietary requirements or special medicinal diets will also not be

01:59taxed.

02:00So all of these details and the standards to which these adhere to have been mentioned

02:05in our story online.

02:07In terms of e-liquids, any e-liquid being used in these e-cigarettes or vaping devices

02:12will be taxed regardless of whether they have nicotine or not.

02:18Again, all those details are in our story.

02:21Another thing that you guys need to know is this tax will only be levied from January

02:241st of 2020.

02:27And however, the FDA has already started the procedures for manufacturers, exporters and

02:34suppliers of these sweetened drinks to start registering their products in the system.

02:40And the next phase would actually start the registration for e-liquids.

02:43So this is what we know about this new tax that it is going to be levied from the 1st

02:49of January next year.

02:51So go on to Gulfnews.com for exactly what kind of drinks will be affected and what kind

02:57of e-liquids would be affected.

Category

Transcript

Recommended