The new digital service from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ‘Manage your Alcohol Duty’, which went live on 1 March, is purported to allow for easier reporting and online payment services regarding alcohol duty.
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Data from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) can reveal that 63% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) saw taxation as their primary business challenge. The data, which was gathered following the Autumn Budget, represents an increase compared to Q3 of 2024 when 48% of business owners saw it as their primary challenge.
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The government won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because it gets them from the OBR. The OBR won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because its only customer is the government. You couldn’t make it up.
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Not only will the forthcoming end of ‘duty easement’ present a huge additional burden on UK wine businesses, but the current claim form for clawing back overpaid excise duty against stated abv is not yet ready, with the excise duty invoice system also not fit for the new regime in one week’s time.
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SWA chief executive has claimed the industry is “not crying wolf” over the impact of the double-digit rise in spirit duty since August 2023. According to Treasury figures, the revenue from spirits duty fell by £255m for the period running 1 August 2023 to 30 November 2024, which equates to an eye-watering half a million-pound loss in revenue every day for HMRC.
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Wine and spirit businesses are calling on the government to freeze alcohol duty for at least two years, arguing it will help offset declining revenues and support public finances.
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The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has revealed a significant drop in exports, with a decline of 18% in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The value of exports in H1 2024 fell to £2.1bn, while the volume dropped by 10.2%, equating to 566 million 70cl bottles, or 36 bottles per second. This contrasts with 40 bottles per second in the first half of 2023.
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The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is urging the next government to reverse the damage caused by Jeremy Hunt’s 10% increase in spirits excise duty. Newly published figures from HMRC reveal that the Treasury has lost more than £100m since the tax hike last August.
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The government is using public health arguments as a “thin veneer to maintain market distortions” Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, has said in a rebuttal of the claims made by Gareth Davies at the Westminster Hall debate earlier this month.
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Soaring alcohol inflation has made an explosive hole in HMRC’s receipts, new figures reveal.
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Research shows alcohol duty hikes have negatively affected wine and spirits sales – and contributed to UK inflation rates. James Bayley looks into the figures.
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HMRC, the architects of the upcoming duty reforms, have released a ‘one-month to go’ reminder about the changes coming into effect on 1 August – though with one glaring omission.
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I like to think I’m a man with common sense. Yet, when I look at the stifling, strangling system of regulations we face as an industry in the UK, I see absolutely zero of it.
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Exports of British gin have fallen for the second year running, according to the latest HMRC figures released yesterday.
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London-based Cask Trade is opening an outpost in Hong Kong following an “unprecedented” spike in demand from the region.
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The £20m SME Brexit Support Fund, announced last month, is now open for applications.
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Operators selling pre-mixed cocktails for home consumption without the necessary licence are at risk of getting fined by the HMRC, UK law firm TLT has warned.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has failed to halt the UK’s distillery boom with new figures showing a record number of distilleries were registered in 2020.
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Panellists at the Wine and Spirits Trade Association Trust’s (WSTA) second summit session advocated for government support on traceable technology for the movement of goods – while dropping plans for costly and time consuming paper VI1 forms.
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Food sales went through the roof in the first three weeks of the government’s The Eat Out to Help Out (EOHO) scheme, helping to normalise going out for Brits and jumpstarting the UK hospitality industry back towards health and prosperity.
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