21/02/2017

Businesses currently approved by HM Revenue & Customs – or planning to seek its approval – to produce, process and hold alcohol are targeted in a consultation published by HMRC as the first step towards the simplification of the existing complex alcohol duty regime.

Around 8,000 businesses trading in alcohol pay £10.5 billion duty every year. The rules vary for beer, wine, spirits and cider and a growing number of businesses trade in more than one category. Some are also involved in importing and exporting alcohol under EU-wide duty suspension procedures or are approved for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS).

HMRC’s Alcohol Strategy announced in Budget 2016 aims to enable businesses to use a single process to register, account for and pay all their alcohol duty.

‘Simplifying the administration of Alcohol Duty’* commences the simplification process by seeking views on proposals for

• changes to registration requirements

• alignment of return and payment dates

• the current position for excise duty deferment including guarantees

A second consultation published later this year will seek views on detailed proposals that take account of feedback to this initial consultation.