Increase in excise duties on wine, spirits and tobacco and abolition of environmental tax

Published


Further to the budget discussions of the Belgian government, for the year 2013, the Belgian government plans to implement the following measures :

  • Excise duties on ethyl alcohol, all alcoholic drinks (except for beer), and smoking tobacco will increase by approximately 12 %.

In terms of alcohol, the special excise duty increases as from 1 January 2013

  • For still wine and other fermented drinks (except for beer) from € 47,0998 to 57,75 per hectolitre;
  • For sparkling wines from € 161,1308 to € 180,5000 per hectolitre;
  • For ethyl alcohol from € 1.529,1312 to € 1.738,8958 per hectolitre absolute alcohol.

In terms of manufactured tobacco, the most important measures, as from 1 February 2013, are as follows:

  • Smoking tobacco: the specific excise duty increases from € 11 to € 12 per kg;
  • Cigarettes: the specific excise duty increases from € 9,3581 to € 15 per 1.000 pieces , but the ad valorem special excise duty decreases from 6,7 % to 4,47 % of the retail price.
  • ‘Eco taxes’  applicable on batteries, throw-away photo cameras or packaging for inks, glues or solvents will be abolished as from 1 January 2013.

We advise the companies concerned to check whether it would not be more cost-efficient to consider a release for consumption of taxable goods before (e.g. alcohol) or after year-end (e.g. batteries).

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