I produce excise goods locally
Registration is required, and production must take place in a licensed tax warehouse.
Last checked: 29 August 2026
Must I register, and when do I need a tax warehouse?
Start with the activity you actually perform. Registration concerns importation, production or possession under suspension; warehouse licensing concerns premises used for production or storage under suspension.
Choose the closest description of your activity
What do you do with excise goods?
This is preliminary orientation. If more than one activity applies, read every relevant result; a business may need both registration and licensing.
I import and release goods directly for consumption
Registration is required before importing (Law Art. 7), and carrying on the activity unregistered is tax evasion (Art. 26(4)). A warehouse licence is not automatic if goods are not held under tax suspension.
I store or hold goods under tax suspension
Registration is required, and the premises need a compliant tax-warehouse licence.
I retail goods on which excise tax has already been paid
A direct-to-consumer retail outlet is not licensed as a tax warehouse. Reassess if you also import, produce or hold goods under suspension.
First route
Excise Tax registration
The application is submitted through the National Bureau for Revenue portal. The legislation does not set a sales threshold exempting a person who carries on a listed activity.
1. Prepare application information
- Applicant and contact details
- Legal form and Commercial Registration details
- Industrial registration where the activity is production
- Types of excise goods involved in the activity
2. Apply through the portal
Submit the application and portal evidence supporting the business and activity. Distinguish information required by the Regulations from attachments requested by the current filing form.
3. Track the decision
The prescribed decision period is 30 days. No decision within that period is treated as an implied refusal. A refusal may be challenged within 30 days, with the objection decided within 15 days.
Account and product lifecycle
Registration does not end when the account is created
The current Registration Manual separates taxpayer registration, product registration, product and price updates, and deregistration. Do not begin importing, producing or storing a product absent from the Excise Goods List before completing its application.
New product before movement
If a product is absent from the Excise Goods List, apply to register it before import, production or storage. The Manual states that new-product registration and product or price-detail updates are processed within 7 working days.
Check the goods and rate guideAdditional-information request
If NBR returns the application for more information, amend and resubmit within 30 calendar days. The Manual states that the system cancels an incomplete application after that period, requiring a new application.
Deregister after closing obligations
Before deregistration, cancel active warehouse licences, file returns and settle tax, penalties and credit balances. Registration is cancelled by Ministerial decision if the registrant has not carried on the activity for one year from the registration date (Regulations Art. 13). A registrant's own cancellation request is decided within 15 days; silence is deemed refusal, open to grievance within 30 days. Under the NBR Manual, if amendments are requested, resubmit within 30 calendar days.
Second route
Tax-warehouse licensing
Register first, then file a separate application for each warehouse. A tax warehouse is not an ordinary commercial store; it is licensed for production or holding goods under tax suspension.
Are the premises eligible?
- Generally yes
- Premises producing or storing locally produced excise goods (Reg. 14(c)); a customs warehouse for excise goods is a tax warehouse (Reg. 14(b)); subject to conditions and guarantee.
- Not in this capacity
- A direct-to-consumer retail outlet. Special rules apply in free zones and customs territory.
What should you prepare?
- Premises, activity and goods to be produced or stored
- Evidence of financial standing and safety requirements
- Meeting the integrity-conviction condition unless legally rehabilitated
- A separate financial guarantee for each warehouse, calculated by the applicant as equal to the tax due, with proof of payment attached (Regulations Art. 17 and 18)
The guarantee is not one fixed amount for every business; it equals the tax due, is computed outside the customs area on stock held plus one month of releases and of goods placed under suspension, and is recalculated every 12 months. The Ministry may reduce it to no less than 5% or increase it where the calculation is incorrect (Regulations Art. 18). If renewal is filed in time and no decision issues, the previous licence continues (Art. 21(d)); a licence unused for more than 90 days is cancelled by Ministerial decision (Art. 23).
After approval
Registration starts the obligation; it does not end it
Safeguard goods and keep paper or electronic accounting, stock and movement records.
Retain transaction copies, invoices, customs declarations and detailed price lists.
Use the registration number, enable supervision and apply required identifying marks.
Report material changes immediately and intended business-data changes 30 days in advance.
Practical examples
How does the answer change by activity?
A Bahrain energy-drink manufacturer
Registers for Excise Tax, then applies to license the production site as a tax warehouse. Excise production does not begin outside licensed premises.
An importer paying tax at customs and selling to distributors
Registers because of importation. Importing alone does not create a warehouse-licence requirement where goods are not held under suspension.
A shop selling packs on which tax was already paid
A consumer retail outlet is not a tax warehouse. The position changes if the business also imports, produces or holds goods under suspension.
Legal basis and operational source
This guide is based on Articles 8–23 of the Executive Regulations and the current NBR Registration Manual, registration and warehouse-licensing page, and FAQs.