The 100% Excise Price Calculation, Worked

Half the retail price: the 100% calculation is simple once the RSP is right.

Step 1 — Establish the excise price. Higher of the FTA standard price list and the designated RSP minus included tax.

Step 2 — Halve it. Article 11(2): for 100% goods the tax equals half the designated retail sale price. RSP AED 100 → tax AED 50.

Step 3 — Strip VAT first. The RSP used is VAT-exclusive: deduct 5% VAT before halving.

Step 4 — Round. Four decimals per good at registration; nearest fils on the return.

1. Wrong RSP — using the till price instead of the designated retail sale price, or forgetting to strip VAT first.

2. FTA list ignored — the published standard price overrides your RSP when higher; check it.

3. Wrong band — for sweetened drinks, banding on recipe estimates instead of lab-tested sugar per 100ml of finished drink.

4. Concentrate error — taxing the concentrate's volume instead of the made-up drink's volume.

5. Rounding at the wrong stage — rounding to fils per good instead of per return, creating footing differences the FTA queries.

Per-unit calculations roll up into the monthly return: sum by SKU and band, round the return total to the fils, and reconcile the result to stock movements. Keep the calculation audit trail — the RSP evidence or lab report behind every number — for five years.

If a calculator tool does this for you, verify it implements the 2026 rules: per-litre bands, the halving rule, VAT stripping and two-stage rounding. A tool still coded to the old 50% rates is worse than a spreadsheet.

Every material excise figure deserves a cross-check. For 100% goods, verify the halving against the long method: take the VAT-exclusive RSP, confirm no higher FTA list price exists, and confirm the market-average test does not lift the base — then halve. If the shortcut and the long method disagree, the long method's inputs are wrong.

For sweetened drinks, cross-check the band two ways: the lab report's grams per 100ml, and a reasonableness test against the recipe — a cola at 3g/100ml should trigger a retest, not a celebration. And always foot the return: sum the per-good rounded figures and compare to the return total; rounding-stage errors show up here first.

Finally, calendarise a quarterly calculation review: re-pull the FTA standard price list, confirm RSPs against current market prices, and re-verify sweetened-drink bands against the latest lab reports. Calculations decay as prices and recipes drift — the review keeps the numbers honest between audits.

Take 100%-rated excise goods. Suppose the designated retail sale price is AED 100 (VAT-exclusive). Excise = AED 50. The excise-inclusive price is AED 150; VAT at 5% = AED 7.50. Total tax on the unit: AED 57.50. Scale the RSP and every figure scales proportionally — the structure never changes.

Tax rules change: confirm the current position on tax.gov.ae before you file, pay or rely on any figure on this page.