In the first half of 2026 the UAE tax authority carried out 103,680 market inspection visits, against roughly 86,000 in the same period of 2025. These are not door-to-door corporate tax audits: they target excise goods. What they do show is how fast on-the-ground enforcement capacity is growing.
What happened
The Federal Tax Authority (FTA), the UAE's federal tax administration, reported that it conducted approximately 103,680 inspection visits across local markets in the first six months of 2026, against roughly 86,000 in the same period of 2025 — an increase of 21%, or a little over a fifth in a single year. Joint campaigns run with the Criminal Investigation Department of Dubai Police led to the seizure of 3,587,315 packs of non-compliant excise goods and to 59 seizure reports. Excise tax is the indirect tax the UAE applies to tobacco products, sweetened beverages and energy drinks.
What changes in practice
Nothing changes at the level of obligations: this is not a new rule, it is an activity report. What changes is the scale of enforcement, and scale is information that carries as much weight as a rule. It should be stated precisely: these inspections concern excise goods and physical points of sale for the most part. They are not door-to-door corporate tax audits, and anyone presenting them as an audit campaign aimed at consultancy or service companies is misreading the figures.
Who it applies to
Directly, to any business that imports, distributes or sells excise goods in the UAE: tobacco and tobacco products, sweetened beverages and energy drinks. Indirectly, to any business whose tax position rests on the assumption that enforcement in the UAE is either absent or unlikely to reach it.
The exposure
The exposure is not the number itself but the assumption the number disproves. A common working assumption among owners of UAE companies is that the absence of an aggressive domestic revenue authority means the absence of checks. The UAE counts its inspections, publishes them, and is increasing them by a fifth year on year. A business that keeps its books on the assumption that nobody will ever ask to see them is relying on a premise the official data contradicts.
What to do now
Businesses dealing in excise goods should verify two concrete points: that excise registration is active and covers the product categories actually handled, and that declared stock levels match physical stock in the warehouse. For everyone else the action is different and simpler: be in a position to reconstruct invoices, contracts and bank statements for the last three financial years within hours rather than weeks. When a request arrives, it is response time — not the absence of enforcement — that determines the outcome.
Sources
Published 25 August 2026 on the basis of public sources and official United Arab Emirates instruments. This is not legal or tax advice. Verify your position with a qualified professional before acting.