Excise on alcohol
If your business manufactures, produces or stores excisable alcohol in Australia, this information will help you understand your alcohol excise obligations, including registration, licensing, lodgment, payment and record keeping.
See our Alcohol excise terms for explanations of excise terms that you don't understand.
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Changes for takeaway alcohol
Takeaway beer
From 29 July to 31 October 2021, alcohol service venues facing COVID-19 restrictions can repackage duty-paid kegged beer for takeaway sale in sealed containers (such as growlers) without the usual excise requirements.
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Takeaway mixed alcoholic beverages
We have updated our position on when preparing takeaway mixed alcohol beverages (for example, cocktails) is not considered manufacture that excise requirements apply to.
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Excise duty
Excise duty is a commodity-based tax on:
If you manufacture, produce or store these excisable goods in Australia, you:
- generally need to have an excise licence
- may need to pay excise duty.
Excisable alcohol products
Beer, spirits and other excisable beverages are all excisable alcohol products and are generally subject to excise duty if you manufacture or produce them in Australia.
Wine is subject to wine equalisation tax, not excise duty.
Understanding the classification of your products is an important step to ensure you correctly meet your excise obligations.
If you donate excisable goods, such as beer or spirits, they are still subject to excise duty. You need to report and pay excise duty for them.
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Excise equivalent goods (imports)
Excise equivalent goods (EEGs) are alcohol, tobacco, or fuel and petroleum products you import into Australia. Instead of paying excise duty on EEGs, you generally pay an equivalent customs duty.
EEGs can be used in the manufacture of excisable goods.
If you import these goods, information is available to help you understand your customs duty obligations, including registration, licensing, lodgment, payment and record keeping.
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Tips to get started
If you are new to excise or just want to check you're meeting your excise obligations, read:
Excise remission scheme for manufacturers of alcoholic beverages
From 1 July 2021 eligible alcohol manufacturers can receive a full (100 per cent) automatic remission of excise duty on alcoholic beverages they manufacture, up to a maximum of $350,000 per financial year. This is known as the Excise remission scheme for manufacturers of alcoholic beverages, or the Remission scheme.
This applies to alcoholic beverages that you enter for home consumption on or after 1 July 2021.
You still have 12 months, from the day after the duty was paid, to claim a refund under the Excise refund scheme for alcohol manufacturers for applicable excise duty paid on or before 30 June 2021.
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What attracts our attention
There are several activities involving excisable alcohol that attract our attention because they are offences under the Excise Act 1901 (Excise Act) where penalties may apply, including:
- unlicensed manufacture of excisable alcohol
- licensed manufacture with unreported excise duty
- selling duty-unpaid excisable alcohol
- concessional spirits used for non-concessional purposes
- incorrect refund, remission or drawback claims.
We have also published Taxpayer Alert TA 2021/1 – Retail sale of illicit alcohol, which focuses on arrangements where alcohol retailers are knowingly or recklessly purchasing illicit alcohol for the purposes of resale. Our aim is to share our concerns early to help businesses make informed decisions about their tax affairs.
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Excise guidelines for the alcohol industry
This publication, available on our Legal database, provides a broad outline of the excise laws and your compliance obligations. It's a reference tool for the alcohol industry to assist you to meet your excise obligations. The guidelines contain further details and examples on some aspects of the information provided in this website content.
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Excise statistics
We publish statistics and data on aspects of the excise system.
COVID-19 arrangements from March 2020 to January 2021
If you need information about the arrangements for takeaway alcoholic beverages and hand sanitiser production that we had in place from March 2020 to January 2021, to support businesses affected by COVID-19, you can contact us.
Businesses that manufacture, produce or store excisable alcohol in Australia need to understand and meet their excise obligations, including registration, licensing, lodgment, payment and record keeping.