Section 15 — duty paid spoilt alcoholic product
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-18)

Guidance on the relief of excise duty on alcoholic products which have become spoilt or otherwise unfit for use after passing the duty point.

15.1 Alcoholic products that’s eligible for duty relief

Alcoholic product which you’ve removed from your approved premises on payment of duty or through constructive removal may later become unfit for use. You can claim a refund of the excise duty paid on any alcoholic product returned to your premises if the alcoholic product meets all of these conditions:
- it has been charged with duty
- it has become spoilt or otherwise unfit for use
- unless delivered in bulk, it is presented for duty reclaim in the same container in which it left duty suspension — however, where not possible for health and safety or other practical reasons, the alcoholic products can be transferred to other containers subject to prior approval from HMRC — this ensures the alcoholic product has not undergone any further process or dilution since it left your premises.
15.2 Excluded alcoholic product

The following alcoholic product is excluded from spoilt products relief:
- unconsumable alcoholic product (for example, sediment in cask-conditioned alcoholic product) on which duty was not charged is ineligible for relief
- adulterated alcoholic product (that is, alcoholic product containing additions which we have not approved) is ineligible
- alcoholic product for which no satisfactory audit trail is available
If any alcoholic product becomes spoilt more than 3 years after the duty was paid on it, you cannot claim relief.

Identifying ineligible alcoholic product

You should satisfy yourself that the alcoholic product returned is the same alcoholic product which was in the container at the time it left duty suspension. The contents of any containers suspected of containing diluted or adulterated alcoholic product, should be rejected as ineligible or subjected to laboratory testing. If you take samples from all containers for laboratory sampling, you will be able to identify and exclude all ineligible alcoholic product from spoilt beer claims.

If you do not sample 100% for laboratory testing, you should establish a sampling plan which should be set out in a formal written procedure. If you decide that a random sampling rate of 10% is appropriate and 5% of the containers tested are found to contain ineligible alcoholic product, then the total duty element of the claim should be reduced by 5%.

15.3 Who can claim the relief

Normally the approved producer who accounted for the duty is the person who can claim relief. Relief cannot be claimed until reprocessing has commenced or destruction has taken place.

Our approval must be sought if the approved producer did not account for the duty but wants to claim relief. You must write to HMRC (https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/excise-warehousing-excise-goods-movements-and-alcohol-duties-enquiries).

For example, if an approved producer purchases duty paid alcoholic product which becomes spoilt and they want to destroy the alcoholic product and claim spoilt product relief, they must apply to us for approval to do so.

In the case of alcoholic product which was imported on payment of duty, only the person who accounted for the duty on importation will normally be entitled to claim relief. Contact HMRC (https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/excise-warehousing-excise-goods-movements-and-alcohol-duties-enquiries)for more information in these circumstances.

In the case of multi-site producers, provided the approved premises are operated by the same approved person, claims on behalf of the group can be made and offset on one duty return.

15.4 What quantity to use to claim relief

You can only claim for the actual quantity of alcoholic product destroyed or reprocessed on which duty has been charged.

This will depend on whether you:
- use a spoilt alcoholic product vessel
- destroy directly from cask, keg or other package
- a combination of both
If you want to decant alcoholic product to determine the volume for relief, you must use a gauged and tabulated spoilt alcohol vessel or establish the volume by using a properly calibrated meter.

If you destroy or decant for reprocessing directly from cask, keg or other containers, you can only claim for the actual quantity of alcoholic product returned on which duty has been charged. In the case of un-broached containers, you should use the declared contents. Broached containers and depot leakers, which can be un-broached, should have their actual contents measured for duty reclaim purposes.

Remember to exclude any undrinkable sediment allowance from the quantity claimed.

15.5 The strength you should base your claim on

Your claim must be based on the strength on which duty was charged. If you destroy directly from cask, keg or other containers, your claim must be based on the strength on which duty was charged.

Where you use a spoilt alcoholic product vessel to claim relief, you must take a representative sample of the alcoholic product for laboratory testing to establish the strength. This must be recorded in support of your claim.

15.6 Destroying or reprocessing

The spoilt alcoholic product can either be destroyed or reprocessed to claim the duty relief.

If destroying, you must destroy the alcoholic product in a way acceptable to us and which makes it unsaleable as a beverage.

The relief from duty for reprocessing includes the following operations:
- alcoholic product which is to be mixed with other alcoholic product on approved premises
- alcoholic product which is to be filtered or pasteurised
15.7 When you can destroy

Subject to any notice of destruction being required, you may destroy spoilt alcoholic products at any time. However, entitlement to reclaim duty on spoilt alcoholic products will depend on the following conditions being met.

The following conditions have the force of law and are made under regulation 29(1) of The Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations 2023.
- a full audit trail is maintained
- requirements of other regulatory authorities are observed (for example, environmental)
- proper control practices are maintained, including appropriate action at management and supervisory levels
15.8 Notice of destruction

If you are required to give prior notification you will have been informed of this by one of our officers or will be a condition added to your approval.

If notice is required, you must give us at least:
- 2 working days notice if you want to destroy alcoholic product in your approved premises
- 5 working days notice if you want to destroy alcoholic product outside your approved premises
You must give details of your proposed method of destruction.

Working days excludes Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

15.9 Additional conditions for reclaiming duty on alcoholic product destroyed away from approved premises

The following conditions have the force of law and are made under regulation 29(1) of The Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations 2023.

(a) Destruction in a pub cellar:

There must be a complete audit trail which confirms that the alcoholic product has been destroyed and that it was duty paid.

You may appoint the publican or an agreed person at the approved premises can carry out the destruction of the spoilt alcoholic product. An authorised company representative does not need to be present.

You must follow health and safety conditions and agree this with the person carrying out the destruction. The requirements of other regulatory authorities must be observed.

(b) Destruction at specialist destruction sites:

There must be a complete audit trail which confirms that the alcoholic product has been destroyed and that it was duty paid.

An agreed person at the approved premises can carry out the destruction of the spoilt alcoholic product. An authorised company representative does not need to be present.

A certificate must be obtained as evidence of destruction .

(c) Spoilt alcoholic products relief will depend upon there being evidence of a full credit of the duty paid value, or replacement of the goods to your customer (or owner of the goods at the time they become spoilt).

15.10 Publicans destroying spoilt alcoholic products

Spoilt alcoholic product should be managed by the following food and drink waste hierarchy, with disposal to the sewer considered the last option.

You should seek permission from the owning producer before making arrangements to return, re-purpose or dispose of alcoholic products.

If a risk assessment shows that it is safe to remove full containers of alcoholic product from the premises you should avoid disposal using the sewer, and other options for management of spoilt alcoholic product should be used. For example, spoilt alcoholic product may be re-purposed as:
- an addition to animal feed — for more information on how to supply spoilt alcoholic product directly to farms, contact James McCulloch at the Agricultural Industries Confederation, by email at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)
- Jenny Grant at the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology, by email at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)
- Sam Hinton at the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association, by email at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)
Where re-purposing of alcoholic product is not possible you should contact your water company. They will provide instructions on how to safely dispose of alcoholic product into public sewers.

Applications to water companies can either be made:
- individually by you, as a publican
- by the operating company for more than one site
If you or your operating company make duplicate applications your request may be delayed.

Evidence we need

If you claim the relief you must be satisfied that destruction has taken place and keep suitable evidence. For example, evidence can be in the form of a video. The agreed person at the premises can record this and give it to the alcoholic product producer for their records.

15.11 Particulars of the spoilt alcoholic product record

When alcoholic product is either returned to the approved premises for destruction or reprocessing or destroyed remotely, you must enter the following particulars in the destruction or reprocessing sections of your spoilt alcoholic product record. These requirements are provided for under Regulation 31(2) of The Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations 2023:
- the total volume of spoilt alcoholic product destroyed or reprocessed
- the strength of the spoilt alcoholic product destroyed or reprocessed
- the date and time of the destruction or when alcoholic product was returned for reprocessing
- the place and method of destruction
In addition, the following bullet points have the force of law and are made under regulation 31(1)(a) of The Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations 2023:
- the volume and strength of the alcoholic product in each container from which the spoilt alcoholic product was directly destroyed or in which the alcoholic product was returned for processing
- the description of the alcoholic product returned by each purchaser in respect of which a claim is made
- the name and address of each purchaser
- the numbers and sizes of each container in which the alcoholic product was returned by each purchaser returning the alcoholic product
- evidence that the duty has been charged or paid
- evidence of the amount of duty charged or paid
Generally, unless we allow a longer period, your spoilt alcoholic product record must be completed within one hour of reprocessing taking place.

15.12 Kegs

When kegs are returned to the approved premises and residues removed for destruction, if you want to reclaim previously paid duty, you must enter the following particulars in the destruction section of your spoilt beer record:
- the total volume of keg residue destroyed
- the strength of the keg residue destroyed
- the date and time of the destruction,
- evidence that the duty has been charged or paid
- evidence of the amount of duty charged or paid
Residues from returned kegs which contained low, standard or high strength alcoholic product must be physically segregated and decanted into separate vessels and accurately measured to determine the quantity for relief. HMRC will not accept estimations for duty reclaim purposes. Residues from kegs returned from export do not qualify for this relief.

15.13 How long you must keep your records for

Normally you must keep your records for 6 years from the date that the relief is claimed. If you want to destroy them earlier, contact HMRC for our approval (https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/excise-warehousing-excise-goods-movements-and-alcohol-duties-enquiries).

15.14 Making a claim

At the end of the accounting period, total the entries in the spoilt alcoholic product record (including those in respect of destructions and reprocessing of spoilt alcoholic product) and transfer the total to your Alcohol Duty account. To claim relief, enter this total (that is, the spoilt alcoholic products relief claimed) in your Alcohol Duty return on the manage your Alcohol Duty online service (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-access-to-the-alcohol-duty-online-service).

15.15 Budget changes

When the duty rate changes, separate entries must normally be made in the spoilt alcoholic product record for alcoholic product charged with duty at the old and new rates.

However, we do not object to bulking of alcoholic product at 2 rates in one destruction, so long as a system to apportion the total has been agreed in advance with our officer. In these circumstances, only one entry on the spoilt alcoholic product record is necessary for the destruction.