Qatar: Implementation of excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages
Effective July 6, 2026
A new excise tax regime for sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) introduces compliance, product registration, and transitional reporting obligations, effective July 6, 2026.
- Compliance requirements: Affected businesses must identify in-scope products (including concentrates and powders), determine applicable sugar tiers and obtain supporting laboratory reports when required, register products on the Dhareeba portal, and perform inventory reconciliations.
- Transitional declarations: Businesses holding in-scope SSBs for commercial purposes as of July 5, 2026, must file a transitional declaration within 90 days from July 6, 2026, with any tax due payable within 30 days of filing.
- Volume thresholds: Businesses holding 200,000 liters or more of inventory must submit an audited inventory report alongside their transitional declaration, while those holding less than 200,000 liters may still need to file depending on the specific products held.
- Customs integration: The General Authority of Customs (GAC) has activated new Harmonized System (HS) codes for excise goods to ensure proper assessment of imported SSBs, requiring businesses to review their customs classifications.
Read a July 2026 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in Qatar