Germany: Homebrewers no longer need to report production to customs or pay tax on their brews

Homebrewers in Germany will no longer need to report their yearly production to customs or pay tax on brews, even if more than 200 litres, The Drinks Business reported on April 9.

The decision, which came into force as Olaf Scholz’s government announced cuts to unnecessary bureaucracy, was reported in the Telegraph and will see an end to the taxes for any hobby brewers.

Until now, home brewers had needed to report their yearly production to customs and were subject to tax if they brewed more than 200 litres. But according to the German finance ministry, the take from this tax, said to be €11,000 (£9,400), does not justify the administrative effort and so will be scrapped.

In future, the reports outlined that homebrewers will only need to declare their hobby if they bottle 500 litres a year and, while experimental homebrewing has taken off in Germany, this is good news for many who have been dabbling with producing their own beers.

According to reports, the amount of homebrewers now in Germany has trebled in the past decade and now there are about 10,000 homebrewers registered with German customs.

Germany’s commercial beer production, which is ensured through the Reinheitsgebot, or beer purity rule, that limits the ingredients of beer to water, barley, hops and yeast, has paved the way for its reputation for quality and consistency. However, many hobby brewers have reportedly lamented that these rules are too restrictive and have said they would prefer to experiment with other ingredients.

Historically, the beer tax in Germany has been one of the oldest sources of state revenue in the country and beer levies were said to be a major source of revenue to local fiefdoms in the middle ages.

Added to this, in the late 19th century, Bavaria insisted on keeping revenues from the beer tax when it was subsumed into the German empire and, after losing its independence, the south-east state is said to have relied on the beer levy for around a third of its revenue.

Currently, breweries in Germany still pay on average some €600 million in taxes on their production to the state, although the total paid is said to have dipped in recent years primarily due to Germans drinking fewer beers.

10 April, 2024