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How to keep batch records for your Alcohol Duty return

Checked against GOV.UK on 1 October 2026. Written by Bradley Cadd, who runs Duty Sorted, an independent business that isn't part of HMRC. About Duty Sorted. Not tax advice: see the note at the end.

What HMRC says you must keep

HMRC's technical guide lists the records an approved producer must keep. In summary, these include:

• the materials and quantities used in production, including additives;
• details of your processes, such as fermentations, additions, and bottling or packaging;
• the quantity and strength of alcoholic products you produced, received, sent out from your premises, returned to them, or lost or destroyed;
• samples, imports, exports, and receipts.

You also need an Alcohol Duty account (a summary of the duty due in each accounting period, including duty on product that left duty suspension, any duty reclaimed on spoilt product, corrections to earlier returns, and the net amount due) and a spoilt products record. If you hold product in duty suspension, there are extra records for that too.

Source: Alcoholic products technical guide, section 9: records and accounts. This is a summary. Read the full section for your own set-up.

How long, and in what form?

HMRC says you "must normally keep your business records for 6 years". Any different arrangement needs HMRC's agreement in advance.

Records can be on any form of storage (paper, spreadsheet, software), provided copies are accurate and up to date, can be produced easily, and can be turned into a readable form when HMRC asks. Whatever you use, make sure you can still get at it, and export it, years from now.

The two dates that matter

1. The date you made it. This decides your Small Producer Relief rate: GOV.UK says you apply the SPR rate from when the product was produced, not from when it passes the duty point.
2. The duty point. Duty becomes payable when product is released from your approved premises, for example when it leaves to be sold, unless it goes to other appropriately approved premises or an excise warehouse. This decides which month's return it goes on. Duty is to be paid by the 25th of the month after the calendar month in which it passed the duty point.

So a batch you ferment in August and sell in October is made in August (for its SPR rate) but goes on the October return (for its duty). Product that is made but hasn't yet been released hasn't reached its duty point, so it isn't on a return yet.

Source: Alcoholic products technical guide, section 7: duty liability. More on the duty point, samples, own use and losses: when is Alcohol Duty due on cider?

A simple record for each batch

HMRC doesn't prescribe a format. Here is a practical one that covers what you need to work out a return. Adapt it to how you make and sell.

Turning records into a monthly return

1. List what left your premises this month: every product that passed its duty point.
2. Group it by product type (which category is yours), strength band (note the 8.5% line) and draught or not (Draught Relief explained). Each group is one line on the return.
3. For each group, litres × ABV ÷ 100 gives litres of pure alcohol, worked to four decimal places as the return asks.
4. Apply your rate: the full rate, less your Small Producer Relief discount where it applies (see how to work out SPR).
5. Multiply and add up for your total, and enter the figures in HMRC's Manage your Alcohol Duty service (see how to fill in the return, step by step) by the 15th.

Common mistakes

• Using the date made as the duty date, or the other way round. The two dates do different jobs.
• Leaving strong products out of your annual total. Products at 8.5% ABV or more don't get SPR, but their alcohol still counts towards your production limit.
• Mixing up litres and litres of pure alcohol. Duty is charged on the pure alcohol.
• Forgetting draught. Bag-in-box and kegs can be draught; the rate is different.
• Only keeping records in one place (a notebook or one laptop). Keep a backup, because you have to hold them for 6 years.
• Skipping a nil month. If you must file returns, you still file one when nothing was released.

This guide is general information, not tax advice, and rules can change. The records you need depend on your approval and how you operate, so check the GOV.UK sections linked above and ask HMRC or your adviser if you're unsure. Duty Sorted is independent and is not made or approved by HMRC.