Duty rates by category: the goods that are not at the standard 5%

Key Takeaways

• The standard UAE customs duty rate is 5% of the CIF value of imported goods, but the UAE government's own guidance sets 50% on alcohol and 100% on cigarettes as separate, published rates, not exceptions applied case by case.
• Certain consignments carry anti-dumping duties on top of the general schedule, reaching up to 67.5% of CIF value on goods such as car batteries, ceramic and porcelain tiles, and hydraulic cement.
• Excise tax is a second, separate charge, not a substitute for customs duty: 100% on tobacco products and energy drinks, 50% on carbonated and sweetened drinks, calculated on a different base to the 5% duty.
• Goods originating in another GCC state can clear at 0% duty, but only if at least 40% of the raw material content is GCC-originated; the certificate of origin is what a customs officer actually checks.

Most landed-cost spreadsheets for UAE imports start from one assumption: 5% duty on everything. That is the correct rate for the overwhelming majority of shipments, calculated on the cost, insurance and freight (CIF) value of the goods, but it is not a universal one. The UAE's own government guidance states it plainly: the rate of customs duty is 5% of CIF value, and it is 50% on alcohol and 100% on cigarettes (The Official Portal of the UAE Government, retrieved 2026-09-08). A business that prices on the 5% assumption and finds the category rate at clearance is not looking at a rounding error.

That matters most for categories that behave nothing like the general schedule: alcohol, tobacco, a short list of goods under anti-dumping orders, and, in the other direction, goods that qualify for 0% because of where they were made rather than what they are.

The 5% rate, and what it is actually charged on

The 5% general rate applies to the CIF value: the price paid for the goods, plus freight, plus insurance, not the ex-works or FOB price a supplier quotes on an invoice. Sharjah Customs states the same base in its own published guidance, adding that the duty "varies on some goods according to the tariff," the emirate-level authority confirming, in its own words, that 5% is a default rather than a fixed number (Sharjah Customs, retrieved 2026-09-08). Run a shipment's CIF value through the UAE customs duty calculator before assuming the standard rate applies, particularly for anything outside ordinary trade goods.

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism describes the same structure nationally, stating that government tariffs "range from 0% to 5%" (Ministry of Economy and Tourism, retrieved 2026-09-08) rather than quoting one figure. A business that only budgets for the middle of that range gets caught by the categories sitting well above it.

Alcohol and cigarettes are priced to be expensive, not to raise routine revenue

A shipment of alcohol with a CIF value of AED 300,000 clears at 50%, an AED 150,000 duty bill, against AED 15,000 if the standard rate applied. Cigarettes clear at 100%: a CIF value of AED 100,000 carries an equal AED 100,000 in customs duty before the goods have even left the port, doubling the cost base in a single line. These are not penalty rates applied after a review; they are the published rate for the category. Any business bringing either into the UAE, even as a small component of a wider consignment, needs to price the category rate from the first quote, not the general one.

Anti-dumping duties are a third tier, applied by product and origin

Separate from the general schedule, the UAE imposes anti-dumping duties on specific goods from specific origin countries, including car batteries, ceramic and porcelain tiles, and hydraulic cement, with rates that can reach 67.5% of CIF value (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, retrieved 2026-09-08). These do not sit in the standard tariff schedule, because they are not permanent features of it: an anti-dumping order applies to a defined product and a defined country of origin, decided separately, so a rate applying to tiles from one origin will not automatically apply to the same tiles sourced elsewhere. Check the current order against the specific HS code and origin before quoting a customer, not after.

<!-- [CHART: UAE customs duty by category — standard 5%, alcohol 50%, cigarettes 100%, anti-dumping up to 67.5%, GCC-origin 0%] -— ## Excise tax rides on top of customs duty, on a different base entirely Tobacco importers face a second charge that is easy to conflate with the customs duty rate but is not the same tax. UAE excise tax is charged at 100% on tobacco products and energy drinks, and 50% on carbonated and sweetened drinks, with tiered, volume-based rates on sweetened drinks according to sugar content ([PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries](https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/united-arab-emirates/corporate/other-taxes), retrieved 2026-09-08). The Federal Tax Authority administers excise tax separately from customs duty, calculated on a different base, generally the higher of the retail selling price or a standard price the authority publishes, rather than the CIF value driving customs duty. A cigarette shipment is not paying "100% plus 100%" of the same figure; it is paying two separate charges on two separate bases, and a model that adds one rate onto the other's base gets both numbers wrong. ## The 0% lane: GCC-origin goods, and the rule that actually decides it The general schedule also runs in the other direction. Sharjah Customs' own guidance states that goods originating from GCC countries are treated as UAE local goods "provided that 40% of the raw materials used for manufacturing such goods is originated in the GCC" ([Sharjah Customs](https://www.sharjahcustoms.gov.ae/en/customs-tariff), retrieved 2026-09-08). Meet that threshold, with a valid certificate of origin to support it, and the shipment clears without the 5% charge that would otherwise apply to the same goods arriving from outside the customs union. The 40% figure is a raw material content test, not a finished-price test, and it is the certificate of origin, not an invoice or a supplier's word, that a customs officer checks against it. A business that assumes GCC manufacture is enough on its own, without documentation to prove the local content share, should expect the standard rate by default rather than the exemption. This is exactly the kind of classification detail worth building into a [trading operations plan](/income/accelerator/scale/growth-strategy/trading) before goods are sourced, not worked out once a shipment is already at the border and the paperwork does not match what customs expects. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is UAE customs duty charged on the invoice price or the CIF value? The CIF value: the cost of the goods plus freight and insurance to the UAE, not the ex-works or FOB price on a supplier's invoice. A landed-cost estimate built from an invoice price alone will understate the duty due. ### Do cigarettes pay both the 100% customs duty and the 100% excise tax? Yes. These are separate charges under different rules: customs duty on CIF value at the border, excise tax on retail selling price. Neither replaces the other, and both apply to the same shipment. ### How does a business prove a shipment qualifies for the 0% GCC-origin rate? With a valid certificate of origin showing that at least 40% of the raw materials used in manufacture originated within the GCC. Without that documentation, customs applies the standard rate that would otherwise be due on the goods, regardless of where final assembly took place. ### Are anti-dumping duty rates published alongside the general tariff schedule? No. They are set for a specific product and country of origin under separate decisions, which is why the same product from a different origin country can face a different rate, or none at all. Check the current order against the exact HS code and declared origin before assuming a rate applies. ### Where can a business confirm the exact duty rate for a specific product? Against the Unified Customs Tariff for GCC States by HS code, cross-checked with the relevant emirate's customs authority (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Sharjah Customs, depending on the port of entry), since published guidance quotes headline rates rather than the full HS code schedule. ## The bottom line The 5% figure that dominates most import planning is a real rate, but it describes the middle of a range, not the range itself. Alcohol, cigarettes, and a short, changeable list of anti-dumping categories sit well above it; GCC-originated goods meeting the local content test sit at zero. Excise tax, where it applies, is a second bill on a separate base, not an alternative reading of the same one. The decision this turns on is where in a sourcing or import plan the category and origin get checked. Confirmed before a supplier is chosen, the different rates are a pricing input like any other. Confirmed at clearance, they are a landed-cost shock that a customer has usually already been quoted a price without. *Figures were verified on 8 September 2026 against the UAE Government Portal, PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Sharjah Customs, and the Ministry of Economy and Tourism. WebSearch was unavailable for this session (budget exhausted), so verification relied entirely on direct WebFetch retrieval of the sources cited above; a detailed, itemised 0% exemption schedule for specific goods such as basic foodstuffs and medicines could not be located on a live government page during this research pass, so that claim has been limited to the GCC-origin rule that was directly verified. Duty rates and anti-dumping orders change; confirm the current rate against the specific HS code before relying on this article for a live shipment.*