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Pay beer tax

  • Steuern und Abgaben 



    	    

		    
If you produce or import beer or mixed beer drinks, you must pay beer tax.

		    


                					    

						    

							    Competent Department
						    

						    
					    

                        
					    

						    

							    Basic information
						    

						    

							    

								    
The beer tax is an excise tax levied on beer and beer-based mixed drinks. It is a special feature among the excise taxes regulated by federal law: The customs administration, i.e. a federal administration, levies the beer tax, while the revenue accrues to the federal states. 

The tax is levied as soon as the beer is removed from a so-called tax warehouse. A tax warehouse is a location approved by the main customs office where products may be manufactured, processed, treated, stored, received or dispatched. In addition, the tax arises, among other things, when you import beer from a third country.

								    

									    Requirements
You must pay beer tax if the tax has arisen and you are liable to pay the tax within the meaning of the law. This can be the case in various constellations, for example if 


  • you are the owner of a tax warehouse from which the products were withdrawn or in which they were consumed,
  • you are a "registered consignee" and take the products into your business following their transportation under duty suspension, or
  • you were involved in production without the required authorization.

In order for smaller breweries to benefit from reduced tax rates, they must be legally and economically independent of other breweries and their total annual production must be less than 200,000 hectoliters.