Check if you can pay less Alcohol Duty on draught alcoholic products
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-01)

If you trade in draught alcoholic products, find out if you could pay a reduced rate of Alcohol Duty.

Who can get the reduced rate

You may be able to pay a reduced rate of Alcohol Duty on those products that are less than 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) if you’re:
- a producer
- an excise warehousekeeper
- an importer
Eligible products

You may be able to get the reduced rate if you make:
- beer
- cider, including perry
- spirits, including spirit based ready-to-drink (RTD) products
- wine, including sparkling and fortified wines
- other fermented products (previously called made-wine) like fruit ciders
Your products must have an alcoholic strength of less than 8.5% ABV.

At the duty point they must also either be:
- packaged in eligible draught containers
- going to be transported to a place in the UK to be transferred into eligible draught containers
Draught containers you can pay the reduced rate on

Your container must be able to hold 20 litres or more of product and be able to connect to either a:
- pump system
- gas pressurised drinks tap
If your container does not meet these conditions, you’ll need to pay the full rate of Alcohol Duty.

If the alcoholic product in your draught container is used for takeaway sales

The default position for products in draught containers is that the draught rates should be paid.

If you’re asked for eligible draught alcoholic products paid at the full rate of duty (for example, for off-premises sales like takeaway beer), you should declare this on your duty return.

If you need to declare the difference between the draught rate already paid, and the full rate of duty, you should use the ‘underdeclaration’ box on your duty return.

You must give your customer evidence that the full rate of Alcohol Duty has been paid when you supply these products.

You can use any appropriate evidence, like a statement on commercial documentation or a letter of confirmation. It must be:
- clear that the full rate of duty has been paid
- passed along the supply chain
If you repackage draught alcoholic products

Repackaging draught alcoholic products means transferring them to other non-draught containers. For example, decanting from a keg into bottles.

Serving a drink from a draught container for consumption on your premises does not count as repackaging. For example, serving it in a glass at a bar.

You can only repackage draught alcoholic products if:
- you’re an approved producer, or an excise warehousekeeper, or both
- duty has been paid at the full rate on the products (like for takeaway sales)
If you do not have approval, or the full rate of Alcohol Duty has not been paid, you may have to pay a penalty (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-notice-209-civil-penalties-fixed-geared-and-daily).

If you’re an approved producer or excise warehousekeeper

If you repackage products from draught containers into other containers, they will no longer qualify for the reduced rate.

You’ll need to pay the difference on your duty return. You should declare this as an ‘underdeclaration in previous period’. The amount you should declare is the difference between the draught rate already paid and the full rate that applied at the time.

Duty rates for draught alcoholic products

The reduced rate that you can get depends on the type and strength of the alcoholic product you make.