The President signed an amendment to the Excise Duty Act, which will support small, regional alcoholic beverage producers. Thanks to the new solutions, small independent producers of alcoholic beverages will pay half of the excise duty on their products.
The draftsman of these changes was the Ministry of Finance. Most of the parliamentary clubs in the Sejm voted in favor of the amendment.
“This amendment is an agreement between the divisions. The Ministry of Finance’s initiative has united almost all MPs. The almost unanimous adoption of these changes by the Sejm proves how necessary and long-awaited they are,” indicates Deputy Finance Minister Jan Sarnowski.
The bill assumes that small independent producers of alcoholic beverages will benefit from the excise duty rate reduced by half.
This includes:
– small wine producers,
– small producers of fermented beverages (e.g., small producers of fruit wines, ciders),
– small producers of intermediate products (including small producers of alcoholized products, e.g., mead).
In addition, distilleries owned by fruit producers producing ethyl alcohol from fruit delivered to them by fruit growers will pay 50% of the basic excise duty. The annual limit in such a case, set at 30 liters of pure alcohol, shall apply to the fruit producer and persons residing with the producer on the condition that the alcohol is intended solely for personal consumption.
“This is good news for small, local producers of alcoholic beverages such as meads, liqueurs, wine, and ciders. As from next year, they will benefit from a lower – by half – excise duty,” says Deputy Finance Minister Jan Sarnowski.
The preferences result from the implementation of the revised EU Alcohol Directive. However, these are optional changes, i.e., not compulsory.
Thanks to the amendment, small independent producers of alcoholic beverages will pay not 100% but 50% of the excise duty rate. The changes will benefit Polish farmers and fruit growers – generally, entities meeting the definition of small producers of alcoholic beverages.