Duty on homebrew?

[Firkin_Great!]

I've volunteered to brew some beer for a local charity do, about 160 pints in fact! I'll donate the beer so no money will be received by me and I know that the venue has a licence to sell alcohol and an events licence. I think that every pint that leaves my house will be subject to duty? Has anyone had any experience of this and knows what licence(s) I need to get from the HMRC and how much it would cost me to do this and in fact whether its even worth doing it in the first place?

Thanks

[AnthonyUK]

I don't think you can do that. I think you'd need a license etc. I don't even think you can give it away on that scale.
Just not worth the hassle.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

The term home brew means beer that is brewed and consumed at home.

I think even the Brew competitions like CBA are on slightly dodgy ground.

I believe, probably about to be corrected, that the only person who is entitled to drink the home brew is the person who actually brewed it.

If you do want to give some away then make sure nobody knows about it, you don't advertise it on a forum, and none of the recipients work for HMRC. I would especially avoid licensed premises.

If you were to register with HMRC then everything you brew would be subject to duty, I believe you also would need to be registered as a business and pass certain Food Hygiene standards etc.. Hassle...

I think I'd be inclined to buy a couple of Firkins from a friendly local brewery who might do you a good deal as it's for Charity. You could maybe go to a local micro brewery and help them brew for a day and organise some sort of discount that way.

[trucker5774]

The only duty I would place on home brew, is the one we are all bound by..........drink it!
As above, I think the limit is to allow friends to drink a little free of charge or gratuity.

[Shadowknight]

I give away 10% of everything I brew.
Mainly to get a second opinion.

Many people have tried to get round the tax/duty by organising raffles, donating beer, etc. Your motives may be pure, but the powers that be won't see that.

[Dennis King]

They would tax your piss if they could.

[GrowlingDogBeer]

They would tax the piss if they could.

They already do.

[Firkin_Great!]

dam... so selling a plastic pint cup for £1.50 then getting free beer to go in it does not sound like a way forward then

I'll think I'll just buy some beer and donate then

cheers!

[boingy]

There are many anomalies in the taxation system and the difference between cider and beer duty is one of them. The system acknowledges the existence of small-scale cider brewers so it is fairly easy to brew and sell small quantities of cider without the hassle of a full blown registration process. Sadly, there is no such system for beer brewers. If there was then I suspect many more of us would have dipped our toe in the water and some of us might have been encouraged to go on to bigger things! I'd like to see someone like CAMRA take up the cause, but CAMRA never seems very progressive to me. Maybe we should all email our MPs...

I seem to recall that the EU was wanting to abolish the small-scale cider thing. Not sure whether that is still ongoing but it would be a typical interfering EU type of thing.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I wonder if there are any tax inspectors who brew their own beer? I bet they'd know all about what the rules are (and how to get around them).

Anyone going to own up?

[greenxpaddy]

I say - donate the beer - if the revenue ever come knocking pay them the duty. If not the charity is quids in. FGS its for charity!

PS Try not to poison everyone or you may have wanted some insurance

[AnthonyUK]

I'd like to see someone like CAMRA take up the cause, but CAMRA never seems very progressive to me.

Well they did recently have a petition to abolish/reduce duty on small beers - beers below about 2.8% which would bring us in line with european law.

Other petetions - http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=332422

[Horden Hillbilly]

I may stand to be corrected on this, but in the late 80's-early 90's, monthly newsletters were available from home brew shops & there was an article about this in there.

My memory of the article was that it's ok to give your home brew away, but it must not be used for fund raising purposes in any shape or form, ie a raffle prize.

[Rookie]

The term home brew means beer that is brewed and consumed at home.

I think even the Brew competitions like CBA are on slightly dodgy ground.

Recently in Oregon the OLCC (big group of pillocks) decided that the wording of the home brew law meant just that and all competitions and sharing of home brew at club meetings were cancelled. It took the passing of a new law to correct it.