17 January 2025
By By James Bayley in The Drinks Business
Image © The Drinks Business
From 1 February, wine businesses and consumers across the UK will be grappling with a tax hike exceeding £175 million as new excise duty rates kick in, coinciding with the end of the wine easement.
Compounding the burden, businesses will face increased administrative costs under the revamped duty system, inevitably driving prices higher.
“Make no mistake: this is both a tax hike for consumers and a new burden on businesses,” Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) tells db.
The Treasury’s overhaul of wine taxation takes aim at bottles between 11.5% and 14.5% alcohol, a category that accounts for 85% of all UK wine sales. This shift introduces a labyrinthine structure of 30 duty charges within this range. [READ MORE…]