Written Question: Tax Administration Burden on Vintners

Lord Moylan: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect on (1) smaller UK wine producers, (2) smaller UK wine retailers, and (3) imports from smaller overseas wine producers, of the increased administration they will face following the planned termination of the temporary wine easement on 1 February 2025 and the introduction of a new excise regime based on alcohol by volume.

Financial Secretary to HM Treasury (Lord Livermore): In August 2023 the previous Government introduced reforms to alcohol duty so that products are taxed in proportion to their alcoholic strength, not volume. The reforms aimed to modernise and simplify the system, to prioritise public health and incentivise consumption of lower strength products.

To help the wine industry adapt to the new duty system, the current, temporary duty easement was introduced as a transitional measure, which was intended to allow time for wine producers to adapt to calculating duty based on alcohol by volume.

By the planned end-date of 1 February 2025, the wine industry will have had over two years to adapt to the new strength-based system.