UAE To Further Expand Digital Tax Stamps Regime

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

14 September 2020

The United Arab Emirates has set out its plans to expand its tax stamps regime for the marking of tobacco products.

From January 1, 2019, all types of imported and locally manufactured and traded tobacco products were required to feature a digital tax stamp. On May 1, 2020, the UAE banned imports of unmarked cigarette packets, and on August 1, 2020, extended this ban to all unmarked tobacco products across all local markets.

The UAE then expanded the scope of the regime to cover all producers and importers of all types of water pipe tobacco and electronically heated cigarettes, with a ban on imports taking effect from March 1, 2020. The UAE tax authority has now confirmed that there will be a ban on supplying, transferring, storing, and possession of water pipe tobacco and electrically heated cigarettes in the UAE if they do not carry a digital tax stamp from January 1, 2021.

Further, the tax authority has launched a new mobile application, "FTA DTS", that can be used by taxpayers to check the authenticity of digital tax stamps, to tackle counterfeit goods and smuggling.

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