Qatar has begun taxing sugary drinks. Starting Monday, the General Tax Authority (GTA) began applying a new excise tax on sweetened beverages — and, in a notable twist, the more sugar a drink contains, the more it will be taxed. Under the new "tiered volumetric" model, the levy is calculated not by the size of a product but by the amount of sugar or added sweeteners packed into it.
In a statement issued Monday, the Authority said the mechanism comes into force under Law No. 2 of 2026, which amends parts of the Excise Tax Law and, crucially, widens the list of goods that can be taxed. That list now takes in sugar-sweetened drinks — think soft drinks and juices with added sugar — along with products that can be turned into a beverage and carry sugar or sweeteners, such as concentrates, powders and extracts.
For businesses, there is paperwork to file. The GTA said everyone holding excise goods must submit a "transitional declaration" through the Dhareeba platform, essentially a formal count of their taxable stock. The rules then split by volume. If a company is sitting on less than 200,000 litres, it simply files the declaration and pays nothing. If the stockpile is 200,000 litres or more, the business must submit an audited inventory report confirming the quantity held — and settle any tax owed.
Here is the part worth underlining: how much is owed depends on sugar, not size. The GTA stressed that the bill is not set by the sheer volume of inventory but by the sugar or sweetener content of the drinks. In practice, a company could clear the 200,000-litre threshold and still owe nothing, provided all its products fall into non-taxable categories. The tax bites only on beverages carrying medium or high levels of added sugar.
The Authority has set clear deadlines. Taxpayers are urged to file their return through Dhareeba within 90 days of July 6, 2026, and to pay whatever is due within 30 days of filing.
There is also relief for cafes and restaurants. The GTA clarified that the excise tax applies only to packaged products; drinks made fresh and handed straight to the customer without sealed packaging — a barista's latte, a freshly squeezed juice — fall outside its scope.
Ultimately, the measure is about health as much as revenue. It forms part of a wider national push to curb consumption of high-sugar products and to nudge manufacturers into reformulating their recipes with less sugar — a change the state hopes will lift public health and, with it, the overall quality of life.