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Digital tax stamps a must for waterpipes from March 1

Dubai - FTA's programme tomitigate health and environmental risks and combat tax evasion

The UAE's Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has declared that digital tax stamps are mandatory for all waterpipe and electrically-heated tobacco products from today, under its second phase of the Marking Tobacco and Tobacco Products Scheme.
It said the import of any waterpipe tobacco and electrically-heated tobacco products not bearing a digital tax stamp will be banned. As of June 1, 2020, the import, transport, storage and possession of such unmarked excise goods will be prohibited in all UAE local markets.
Phase one of the scheme, which came into force on January 1, 2019, yielded promising results in marking all types of imported, and locally manufactured and traded cigarette packets with digital tax stamps. The FTA directed that such products be marked before leaving the manufacturing facilities to indicate the payment of the applicable excise tax across the UAE.
From May 1, 2019, the FTA issued a ban on importing all types of unmarked cigarette packets into the UAE. Following that on August 1, the sale of cigarette packets not bearing a digital tax tamp was banned across all local markets.
Apart from protecting consumers from commercial fraud and low-quality products, the initiative will mitigate health and environmental risks and combat tax evasion.
- waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com