How to work out your Alcohol Duty rates if you’re eligible for Small Producer Relief
Source: gov.uk (2025-02-01)

The figures you’ll need and how to use them to work out your discounted duty rates.

Before you start

You must check:
- if you’re eligible for Small Producer Relief (SPR)
- which products you can pay less duty on
- how to work out your annual alcohol production
You can check if you’re eligible to pay less Alcohol Duty as a small producer (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-youre-eligible-for-small-producer-relief-on-alcohol-duty).

What you need to do

To find out your duty rates you need to:

Work out your annual pure alcohol production in hectolitres across all your products.

Check which product categories and lookup tables apply to your products.

Follow the steps to work out your discount amount for each product category.

Subtract the discount amount from the full Alcohol Duty rate to get your small producer rate for each category.

Your annual alcohol production figure

This is the total pure alcohol content in hectolitres for all the products you either:
- made on your premises in the previous production year
- estimate that you’ll make on your premises in the current production year, if you are a new business
Product categories and lookup tables

You get different discounts as a small producer depending on:
- your product type
- if your product is sold on draught
- how many hectolitres of pure alcohol you produce annually
You’ll need to use the figures in the lookup tables in this guide to follow the steps to work out your duty discount.

Use the SPR calculator to work out SPR rates for years before 1 February 2025 (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-out-your-alcohol-duty-rates-if-youre-eligible-for-small-producer-relief).

Your eligibility for a discount band is determined by your production amount across all products. Your production amount must be more than the start point of the band but not more than the end point.

Lookup tables from 1 February 2025

Alcoholic products (other than spirits) less than 3.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught alcoholic products (other than spirits) less than 3.5% ABV

Spirits less than 3.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught spirits less than 3.5% ABV

Beer 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught beer 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV

Still cider 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV, and sparkling cider 3.5% to 5.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught still cider 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV, and draught sparkling cider 3.5% to 5.5% ABV

Wine and other fermented products 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV, and sparkling cider over 5.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught wine and other fermented products 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV, and sparkling cider over 5.5% ABV

Spirits 3.5% to less than 8.5% ABV (non-draught)

Draught spirits 3.5% ABV to less than 8.5% ABV

Steps to work out your duty discount

Work out your total annual alcohol production in hectolitres.

Find the lookup table for your product category.

Work out which discount band applies based on your production amount.

Subtract the band’s threshold start point from your production amount.

Multiply that figure by the band’s marginal discount.

Add that figure to the band’s cumulative discount.

Divide that figure by your production amount.

This gives you your duty discount in £ (pounds) per litre of pure alcohol. This is how much you will get off the full rate of Alcohol Duty for the product.

You must apply the SPR rate from the time the product has been produced, rather than the rate in place at the time the product passes the duty point. This still applies even if the product passes the duty point in a different production year to when it was produced.

For example, Company A’s product is produced on 15 January and the SPR rate for that year (£10.00) is applied. It passes the duty point on 7 February, in the next production year, when Company A’s SPR rate has risen to £15.00. The SPR rate paid at the duty point for the product is the rate applied on 15 January (£10.00).

How to work out your lower rate of Alcohol Duty

Subtract your duty discount amount from the full rate of Alcohol Duty.

There are different Alcohol Duty rates for:
- non-draught products (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-how-much-alcohol-duty-you-need-to-pay)
- draught products (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-can-pay-less-alcohol-duty-on-draught-products)
Example of a discount and Alcohol Duty rate calculation

Your annual production amount between 1 February up to and including 31 January across all your products was 105 hectolitres of pure alcohol.

One of the products you make is draught beer at 3.4% ABV.

You must use the look up table for ‘draught alcoholic products (other than spirits) less than 3.5% ABV’.

Your annual production amount of 105 hectolitres means you fall into discount band 4.

The band 4 start threshold is 100 hectolitres.

Your marginal discount is 42 pence. Your cumulative discount is £199.28.

You need to:

Subtract the start threshold from your production amount.105 – 100 = 5

Multiply your answer by the marginal discount.5 × 42 pence = £2.10

Add your answer to the cumulative discount.£2.10 + £199.28 = £201.38

Divide your answer by your production amount.£201.38 ÷ 105 = £1.92 (round up to the nearest penny)

Your discount on the standard rate is £1.92 per litre of pure alcohol.

The full Alcohol Duty rate for draught beer at 3.4% ABV is £8.28 per litre of pure alcohol.

Your small producer rate for this product is £8.28 – £1.92 = £6.36 per litre of pure alcohol.