Excise guidelines for the alcohol industry

The following table sets out whether you need to pay excise duty or WET for fortified wine or grape must. ( Note : Wine subject to WET can only be fortified with the types of spirit listed in the table.)

Product	WET	Excise duty
Grape wine fortified with grape spirit and/or brandy Alcoholic strength:
22% or less	Y	N
more than 22%	N	Y
Grape wine products fortified with grape spirit and containing at least 70% grape wine Alcoholic strength:
less than 8%	N	Y
8%-22% inclusive	Y	N
more than 22%	N	Y
Fruit or vegetable wine fortified with grape spirit or neutral spirit
Alcoholic strength:
less than 15%	N	Y
15% - 22% inclusive	Y	N
more than 22%	N	Y
Cider and perry	Cannot be fortified	u
Mead fortified with grape spirit or neutral spirit Alcoholic strength:
less than 15%	N	Y
15% - 22% inclusive	Y	N
more than 22%	N	Y
Sake	Cannot be fortified	u

If you need to pay excise duty refer to Chapter 12 - Spirits and other excisable beverages .

For information on record keeping requirements for fortified wines refer to Chapter 13 - Concessional spirit .

14.2.2 WHAT IS THE WINE EQUALISATION TAX?

The wine equalisation tax (WET) is a value based tax applied to dealings with wine. Dealings with wine include selling wine, using wine, or making a local entry of imported wine at the customs barrier.

There are some exemptions, including:

dealings that are GST-free supplies or non-taxable importations
exemptions based on quoting ^[408]
if the goods are covered by Schedule 4 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995
if the wine has been taxed while in bond, i.e. under the control of Customs, and
goods returned to Australia in an unaltered condition. ^[409]

The WET rate is 29% of the wholesale sale value.

Generally, WET is included in the price for which retailers (including bottle shops, hotels, restaurants and cafes) purchase the wine.

The ATO administers and collects WET on assessable dealings with wine in Australia. Payment is included at Label 1C of your Business Activity Statement (BAS). Customs administers and collects WET on imports.

There is also a rebate scheme which provides a rebate of wine tax for eligible producers of wine. Producer rebates are claimed at Label 1D of your BAS.

If you are liable to wine tax on a dealing or are entitled to a wine tax credit, you are required to keep records of all transactions that relate to the dealing or credit claim for a period of five years after completion of the transactions or acts to which they relate. The records must be in English or readily accessible and convertible into English. Your wine tax liability must also be able to be readily determined from your records. ^[410]

Wine Equalisation Tax Ruling WETR 2009/1 ^[411] explains how the wine tax operates, which alcoholic products are covered by the WET and your record keeping responsibilities. Wine Equalisation Tax Ruling WETR 2009/2 ^[412] explains the operation of the wine producer rebate for producers of wine that are registered for GST in Australia, and Wine Equalisation Tax Ruling WETR 2006/1 ^[413] explains the operation of the producer rebate for producers of wine in New Zealand that have their wine exported to Australia.

For more information about WET, visit our website at www.ato.gov.au

14.3 POLICY AND PRACTICE

14.3.1 WHAT IS WINE?

WET applies only to products that fall within the definition of 'wine'. ^[414]

Wine is defined as one of the following beverages, containing more than 1.15% alcohol by volume:

grape wine
grape wine products
fruit or vegetable wine
cider or perry
mead, and
sake.

Each of these products is defined in the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999 (WET Act). Some of them are further defined in the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Regulations 2000 (WET Regulations).

The table below gives the definition of the products subject to WET:

Definitions

Examples

Grape wine ^[415] is a beverage that:

is the product of the complete or partial fermentation of fresh grapes or products derived solely from fresh grapes, and
does not contain more than 22% alcohol by volume.

Grape wine continues to be grape wine even though grape spirit or brandy is added to it (within the strength limit of 22%).

Includes:

table wines (red, white and ros é )
sparkling wines
fortified wines, and
dessert wines

Grape wine products ^[416]

From 10 September 2009, a grape wine product is a beverage that:

contains at least 70% grape wine;
has not had added to it any ethyl alcohol from any other source, except
grape spirit; or
alcohol used in preparing vegetable extracts (including spices, herbs and grasses) where the alcohol:
- is only used to extract flavours from vegetable matter;
- is essential to the extraction process; and
- adds no more than one percentage point to the overall alcoholic strength by volume of the beverage;
has not had added to it the flavour of any alcoholic beverage (other than wine), whether the flavour is natural or artificial; and
contains between 8% and 22% (inclusive) of ethyl alcohol by volume.

Grape wine products are generally traditional products that have been produced by the wine industry for many years.

From 10 September 2009 grape wine products include:

vermouth;
marsala;
green ginger wine
wine based cocktails and creams that do not contain the flavour of any alcoholic beverage (other than wine) whether the flavour is natural or artificial; and
imitation liqueurs (wine based) that do not contain the flavour of any alcoholic beverage (other than wine) whether the flavour is natural or artificial;

but only where they satisfy the requirements in the column on the left.

From 10 September 2009, Grape wine products do not include:

wine coolers (unless they satisfy the requirements in the column on the left);
ready to drink (RTD) or designer drinks that contain a wine base (unless they satisfy the requirements in the column on the left);
RTDs or designer drinks that contain spirits (other than grape spirit); RTDs or designer drinks containing grape spirit must also satisfy the requirements in the column on the left, and
Spirit based (other than grape spirit) cocktails, creams and liqueurs.

A fruit or vegetable wine ^[417] is a beverage that:

is the product of the complete or partial fermentation of the juice or must of fruit or vegetables, or products derived solely from fruit or vegetables
has no added alcohol from sources other than grape spirit or neutral spirit
has no added colour or flavour (apart from any coming from grape spirit or neutral spirit), and
contains:
between 8% and 22% (inclusive) alcohol by volume, or
if grape spirit or neutral spirit has been added, contains between 15% and 22% (inclusive) alcohol by volume.

Note 1: grape spirit or neutral spirit can only be added if the beverage meets the definition of fruit or vegetable wine before the spirit is added. ^[418]

Note 2: The addition of sugar to fruit wine does not constitute the addition of a flavour. ^[419]

Includes:

table wine
sparkling wine
fortified wine

derived from fruit or vegetables.

Does not include:

ready-to-drink (RTD) or designer drinks that contain alcohol fermented from fruits, such as lemons and oranges

(unless the product satisfies the requirements in the first column).

Cider and Perry ^[420] are beverages that:

are the product of the complete or partial fermentation of the juice or must of apples or pears
have no added any ethyl alcohol from any other source; and
have no added liquor or substance (other than water or the juice or must of apples or pears) that gives colour or flavour.

Note 1: Adding cane sugar to apple or pear juice prior to the fermentation of that apple or pear juice will not prevent the resulting beverage product from being 'cider' as defined in section 31-5 of the WET Act provided that the amount of sugar added does not change the character of the beverage such that it can no longer be described as the product of apples or pears. ^[421]

Includes:

traditional cider and perry
draught cider and perry
dry cider and perry
sweet cider and perry

Do not include:

cider or perry that has had lemon, blackcurrant or other fruit flavourings added
cider or perry that has had cola or other flavourings added.

From 9 June 2005, mead for WET purposes is a beverage that:

is the product of the complete or partial fermentation of honey;
has not had added any ethyl alcohol from any other source, except grape spirit or neutral spirit;
has not had added to it any liquor or substance that gives colour or flavour other than:
- grape spirit or neutral spirit;
- honey, herbs and spices, all of which can be added at any time;
- caramel, provided it is added after the fermentation process is complete; or
- fruit or product derived entirely from fruit, provided:
the fruit or product has not been fermented;
the fruit or product is added to the mead before fermentation of the mead; and
after the addition of the fruit or product and before fermentation the mead contains not less than 14% by volume of honey and not more than 30% by volume of the fruit or product;
if fruit or product is added the mead contains between 8% and 22% (inclusive) of ethyl alcohol by volume, and
if grape spirit or neutral spirit has been added contains between 15% and 22% (inclusive) of ethyl alcohol by volume. However, grape spirit or neutral spirit can only be added if the beverage meets the definition of mead before the grape spirit or neutral spirit is added.

Note: If fruit or product derived from fruit is added and it contains concentrated fruit juice or fruit pulp, the proportion of fruit or product in the mead is worked out by assuming that it has been reconstituted according to the recommendations of the manufacturer of the concentrated fruit juice or pulp.

From 9 June 2005, mead includes:

honey mead;
fortified mead;
liqueur mead; and
spiced mead.

Sake ^[423] is a beverage that:

is the product of the complete or partial fermentation of rice
has no added alcohol, and
has no added colour or flavour.

Includes:

sake (produced by fermentation), and
rice wine

Does not include:

distilled sake.

14.3.2 ALCOHOLIC STRENGTHS FOR FORTIFIED WINE?

The Excise Actdoes not specify strength requirements for fortified wines. However, there are minimum strength requirements for grape wine products and fruit or vegetable wine under the WET Act. Also, the Food Standards Code states that fortified wine must contain at least 15% by volume of ethanol at 20 ° C.

The WET legislation ^[424] and the Food Standards ^[425] both require that fortified wine must contain not more than 22% by volume of ethyl alcohol at 20 ° C.

14.4 PROCEDURES

14.4.1 WHAT DO I DO IF I NEED MORE INFORMATION?

If you need more information on wine or the wine equalisation tax contact us via:

the Business Portal

phone on 1300 137 290

fax at 1300 130 916 ,

email at alcohol@ato.gov.au , or

mail to
Australian Taxation Office

PO Box 3514

ALBURY NSW 2640

We will ordinarily respond to written information requests within 28 days. If we cannot respond within 28 days, we will contact you within 14 days to obtain more information or negotiate an extended response date.

14.5 LEGISLATION (quick reference guide)

In this chapter we have referred to the following legislation:

14.5.1 A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999

Division 7 - Exemptions

Section 31-1 wine

Section 31-2 - Meaning of grape wine

Section 31-3 - Meaning of grape wine product

Section 31-4 - Meaning of fruit or vegetable wine

Section 31-5 - Meaning of cider or perry

Section 31-6 - Meaning of mead

Section 31-7 - Meaning of sake

14.5.2 A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Regulations 2000

Regulation 31-2.01 - Grape wine

Regulation 31-3.01 - Grape wine products

Regulation 31-4.01 - Fruit or vegetable wine

Regulation 31-6.01 - Mead

14.5.3 Taxation Administration Act 1953

Section 382-5 - Keeping records of indirect tax transactions

Excise guidelines for the alcohol industry

	Date:	Version:
	1 July 2013	Original document
	1 July 2015	Updated document
You are here	7 September 2017	Updated document
	21 February 2018	Updated document
	5 August 2019	Updated document
	4 June 2021	Updated document
	9 July 2021	Updated document
	23 December 2021	Updated document
	25 February 2022	Updated document
	1 July 2024	Current document

Copyright notice

You are free to copy, adapt, modify, transmit and distribute material on this website as you wish (but not in any way that suggests the ATO or the Commonwealth endorses you or any of your services or products).