VAT on gold in the UAE
The UAE charges VAT at 5% under Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017, and it applies to gold jewellery on the gold and the making charge together. Investment precious metals are zero-rated under Article 36 of the Executive Regulation: gold, silver and platinum of 99% purity or more, in a form tradeable in global bullion markets. The UAE rule covers both supply and import and does not require the seller to be the refiner, so a qualifying bar carries no VAT at any shop in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, a real difference from Saudi Arabia. A non-resident tourist can reclaim the VAT on jewellery at departure, less fees. The calculator shows the VAT on a piece of 22K, the most common karat in Dubai, split between the gold and the making charge, at the current ounce price and the 3.6725 peg. It is the page to read before a big jewellery purchase if you live in the Emirates, since residents get none of it back.
VAT on the piece (5%)
AED 237
out of a AED 4,973 total
| VAT on the gold value | AED 224 |
| VAT on the making charge | AED 13 |
| Price before VAT | AED 4,736 |
Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate · Editorial policy
The 5% standard rate
Article 3 of Federal Decree-Law No. 8 of 2017 as amended imposes a standard rate of 5% on every supply or import, subject to specific provisions. Gold jewellery is taxed at that rate on its full value, making charge included. In a Deira shop selling a 22K chain at a gram price plus a making charge per gram, VAT is charged on the sum of the two, not on the gram price alone.
Article 36: zero rate for investment metals
Article 36 of the Executive Regulation zero-rates the supply or import of investment precious metals, defined as gold, silver and platinum of a purity of 99% or more in a form tradeable in global bullion markets. The text does not limit this to a first supply or to the type of seller, unlike the Saudi rule. In practice bars from one gram to a kilo and investment coins are sold at the gold price plus the dealer premium, with no VAT.
Example: ten grams of 22K
The calculator above takes ten grams of 22K and a making charge per gram, values the gold at the current ounce times 3.6725 per the UAE central bank, then applies 5% VAT to the total and splits it into VAT on the gold and VAT on the making. Change the making charge to see that each extra dirham of it raises the VAT too.
The tourist refund
Under FTA Decision No. 2 of 2018 as amended, a non-resident tourist can reclaim the VAT paid at a participating retailer, provided purchases from that retailer reach AED 250 and the goods leave within 90 days, less an administrative fee of 13% of the VAT and a fixed AED 4.8 per claim. Work out the net amount in the refund calculator. No refund form is issued to anyone under eighteen.
Tourist, resident and trader
A tourist pays 5% at purchase and reclaims most of it. A resident pays it and gets nothing back, except on qualifying bars where there is no VAT in the first place. A registered trader buying gold from another trader falls under special reverse charge rules that do not touch the consumer. That is why the figures people pass around differ from the final price of gold in Dubai; the accurate way is for each person to calculate for their own situation.
Changes to the regulation
The UAE has amended the Executive Regulation several times since 2017; the latest consolidated version we read is the one published on the Federal Tax Authority website in September 2026. Article 36 has the same wording in the two versions we compared. We re-read the text at every site update, and the review date is shown at the top and bottom of the page.