Qatar moves excise on sweetened drinks to a sugar-content basis
- Jurisdiction
- 🇶🇦 Qatar
- Tax
- Excise Tax
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- Action required
- Announced
- 6 July 2026
- Effective
- 6 July 2026
- Instrument
- QA-LAW-2-2026
- Authority
- General Tax Authority (Qatar)
- Systems
- ERP, Tax engine, Reporting, Customs
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
Businesses that hold, import or manufacture sweetened drinks and other taxable beverages or products in Qatar, especially those holding affected stock as of 6 July 2026.
If you hold or import sweetened drinks in Qatar, recalculate excise on a sugar-content basis and file the transitional stock return through Dhareeba by approximately 4 October 2026.
ERPTax engineReportingCustoms
Qatar's General Tax Authority implemented a tiered volumetric excise tax mechanism on sweetened drinks under Law No. (2) of 2026, amending certain provisions of the Excise Tax Law, effective 6 July 2026. The tax applicable is calculated according to the amount of sugar or added sweeteners contained in taxable beverages and products. Taxpayers holding affected stock must submit a tax return through the Dhareeba platform within 90 days from 6 July 2026.
What changed in detail
Qatar’s General Tax Authority implemented a tiered volumetric excise tax mechanism on sweetened drinks under Law No. (2) of 2026, amending the Excise Tax Law, effective 6 July 2026. Rather than a flat rate on the sale price, the tax applicable is calculated according to the amount of sugar or added sweeteners contained in the taxable beverages and products. Taxpayers holding affected stock as of 6 July 2026 must submit a tax return through the Dhareeba platform within 90 days of that date — around 4 October 2026.
What it means
Sugar content, not price or volume alone, now drives the excise liability on sweetened drinks — so the same product can carry a different tax depending on its formulation, and reformulating down in sugar content becomes a tax lever as well as a health one. The 90-day stock return is a one-off transitional filing, not a recurring obligation, but it has a hard deadline around 4 October 2026 for anyone holding stock at the switchover date.
Proof
the applicable tax is calculated according to the amount of sugar or added sweeteners contained in taxable beverages and products
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Archived from the official distribution · General Tax Authority announcement on Law No. (2) of 2026 (Excise Tax Law amendment) · gta.gov.qa