The Alcoholic Products (Excise Duty) Regulations 2023

Small producer relief – the volume production limit condition U.K.

9.—(1) The “volume production limit condition” relevant to a category of products is met in relation to non-group premises(1) if, in relation to those premises, neither of the following volumes exceeds the volume production limit specified for that category of products in paragraph (3)—

(a) the total production volume of that category of products for the previous year(2);

(b) the estimated total production volume of that category of products for the current year(3).

(2) The “volume production limit condition” relevant to a category of products is met in relation to group premises(4) if neither of the following volumes exceeds the volume production limit specified for that category of products in paragraph (3)—

(a) the aggregate of the total production volume of that category of products, in relation to every set of premises in the production group(5), for the previous year;

(b) the aggregate of the estimated total production volume of that category of products, in relation to every set of premises in the production group, for the current year.

(3) The “volume production limit” is, in the case of—

(a) beer, 200,000 hectolitres,

(b) cider or other fermented product, 15,000 hectolitres,

(c) wine, 1,000 hectolitres, and

(d) alcohol contained in spirits, 10 hectolitres.

(4) In relation to production premises—

(a) the “total production volume” for a production year(6) is (as the case may be) the volume of—

(i) beer,

(ii) cider or other fermented product,

(iii) wine, or

(iv) alcohol contained in spirits,

produced on those premises in that year, and

(b) the “estimated total production volume” for a production year is the producer’s reasonable estimate of the total production volume of the relevant category of products for those premises in that year.

(5) The references in paragraph (4) to the volume of beer, cider or other fermented product, wine and alcohol contained in spirits produced on a set of premises do not include references to volumes that are spoilt or destroyed before the excise duty point.

(6) Paragraph (7) applies where premises are in use for the purposes of the production of alcoholic products for part only (the “relevant part”) of a production year (including where premises begin to be used for those purposes part-way through a production year).

(7) The total production volume or (as the case may be) the estimated total production volume of a category of products is treated, for the purposes of this Part, as being the volume given by—

(a) dividing the actual total production volume of that category of products, or (as the case may be) the estimate of that volume, by the number of days in the relevant part of the production year, and

(b) multiplying the volume amount given by paragraph (a) by the number of days in the production year.

(8) An officer of Revenue and Customs may, if satisfied that the circumstances are exceptional, agree with a producer that certain alcoholic products, or a certain volume of alcoholic products, may be disregarded for the purposes of determining—

(a) the total production volume, or

(b) the estimated total production volume,

in relation to production premises for any production year.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 9 in force at 1.8.2023, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

“Non-group premises” is defined in section 69(6) of the Act (“producer”, “production premises”, “group premises” etc).

(2)

“Previous year” is defined in section 54(4)(b) of the Act (small producer relief: discounted rates).

(3)

“Current year” is defined in section 54(1) of the Act (small producer relief: discounted rates).

(4)

“Group premises” is defined in section 69(3) of the Act (“producer”, “production premises”, “group premises” etc).

(5)

“Production group” is defined in section 69(5) of the Act (“producer”, “production premises”, “group premises” etc).

(6)

“Production year” is defined in section 54(4)(a) of the Act (small producer relief: discounted rates).