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When is Alcohol Duty due on cider? The duty point, samples, tastings and your own use
Checked against GOV.UK on 2 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.
The short version
- Duty isn't due when you make cider. It's due when the cider passes the duty point: when it leaves duty suspension, which normally means when it leaves your approved premises to a customer.
- Cider that goes to another approved producer or an excise warehouse is still in duty suspension, so no duty is due yet.
- The month the duty point falls in decides which return it goes on: return by the 15th, pay by the 25th of the following month.
- Samples, tastings and your own cider each have their own rules, and some are duty-free if you keep the right records.
- Cider that is accidentally lost or unintentionally spoilt before the duty point can be written off, but not if you can't show what happened.
The duty point
With an alcoholic products producer approval (APPA), you can hold the cider you make on your approved premises in duty suspension. You don't pay duty, but you always remain liable for it. HMRC's technical guide says duty "only becomes payable when the alcoholic products passes a duty point, that is when it leaves duty suspension". That happens when the cider:
- leaves your approved premises, unless it goes to other appropriately approved premises, an excise warehouse, for export, or to a few other special destinations;
- is constructively removed (see below);
- is lost or irregularly diverted (an accidental loss can be written off: see the table below);
- is still held when you're no longer approved, or the premises stop being approved; or
- is affected by a failure to follow the duty suspension rules.
The person holding the cider at the duty point is liable for the duty. Duty is also payable when product is "consumed in" your approved premises.
When you report it and pay
The return covers a calendar month: everything that passed its duty point in that month. A batch released on 10 March goes on the March return, which is due by 15 April, and the duty is to be paid by 25 April. A batch you make in August but don't release until October goes on the October return. See how to keep batch records, how to fill in the return, and what changed for small cider makers for the rules on who files. Your Small Producer Relief rate is fixed by when you made the cider, not when it passes the duty point: see how to work out SPR.
To work out the duty, total the product that passed the duty point at each strength band in the month, convert to litres, multiply by the strength to get litres of pure alcohol (to at least 4 decimal places), then multiply by the rate. The duty is shortened to 2 decimal places. See duty per pint, bottle and can for what that means per container.
Sources: technical guide, section 7 (7.1, 7.4, 7.6, 7.7) and section 5.
What happens in common situations
| Situation | Is duty due? | What GOV.UK says |
|---|---|---|
| Cider leaves your premises to a customer or wholesaler | Yes | That is the duty point. It goes on that month's return. |
| Cider moves to another approved producer or an excise warehouse | Not yet | It stays in duty suspension. You need the right documents for the movement. |
| A sample for quality control or strength testing, taken from cider in duty suspension | Normally no | If you record it, take the minimum needed, label it "sample", and use it up in tests, destroy it or return it to the process, and an officer is satisfied it wasn't released for consumption. |
| A trade sample sent to a wholesaler, distributor or potential trade customer in the UK | Normally no | Up to one litre per product, clearly labelled "not for sale", not for consumption, with a genuine trade purpose, and recorded with the reason. |
| Tastings for visitors, market testing, trade fairs, shows or promotions | Yes | HMRC says duty must be paid on product used for market testing, including consumption by potential customers visiting your premises, and on product used for promotions and tastings at trade fairs, shows and supermarkets. |
| A sample that isn't free | Yes | If samples aren't supplied free of charge, you must pay duty on them. |
| Cider you move to a shop or taproom within or attached to your approved premises | Yes | HMRC says retail premises within or attached to approved premises are not part of them, and product moved there is duty-paid when it leaves the approved premises. Selling draught for take-away loses Draught Relief: see Draught Relief explained. |
| Cider you or your family drink yourselves | Usually yes | An approved producer's own domestic consumption is liable to duty, unless the grower's relief below applies. |
| Cider accidentally lost in approved premises, before the duty point | No, if HMRC is satisfied | It must have been lost in the approved premises and not consumed. You must record the date and time, the product, volume, strength and the reason. |
| Cider that goes missing with no explanation | Yes | If it can't be accounted for after production starts and there's no acceptable explanation, you're liable for the duty. |
| Cider unintentionally spoilt before the duty point | No, if HMRC is satisfied | It must be spoilt, contaminated or unfit in the approved premises and not consumed. Record the details and destroy it. HMRC can require duty on anything written off without good evidence. |
| Cider that spoils after you've paid duty | You may be able to reclaim it | Conditions apply (see below). Cider lost after the duty point normally gets no relief. |
Sources: section 16 (samples), section 14 (losses and spoilt product), section 17 (domestic consumption) and section 4 (4.13).
Cider from your own fruit: grower's domestic consumption relief
There's one significant relief for farm and orchard makers. HMRC says cider "made from fruit ... grown by a grower" can be sent from approved premises without paying duty for the domestic consumption of the grower, and of the grower's employees. A "grower" is someone who owns or leases the trees and is responsible for looking after and harvesting them, though they can contract others to do the work as long as they supervise it. The same relief covers other fermented products (like mead from your own honey).
"Domestic consumption" covers the grower and their family (or the directors of a company), their employees, and guests. Visitors can count as guests, and no duty is due as long as:
- no charge is made for admission to the premises;
- no charge is made for the cider; and
- it's supplied by the glass, not in bottles or other take-away packaging.
How the allowance works for cider:
- It's based on the amount of cider you produced in the preceding calendar year (January to December), and can't exceed what you actually produced.
- If you produced no cider in the previous calendar year, there's no entitlement. Nothing carries forward from one year to the next.
- If you claim it, you must record in your business records how much cider is to be used for each purpose.
- There's no fixed upper limit, but you must be able to satisfy HMRC that your claim isn't excessive. You pay duty on anything you over-claim.
Paying duty early: constructive removal
You can choose to account for duty on cider before it leaves your premises. HMRC calls this "constructive removal". The cider changes from duty-suspended to duty-paid, on payment of the duty, without moving. You must record the date, type, strength and amount, and the record can't be altered afterwards. Once removed this way, the cider can't go back into duty suspension, and HMRC may restrict your use of it if it thinks it's being misused. Duty is due by the 25th of the month after the one in which you did it.
Spoilt after you've paid duty
You may be able to claim back duty on cider that has become spoilt or unfit for use after the duty point, if it:
- has been charged with duty;
- has become spoilt or otherwise unfit for use; and
- comes back to you in the same container it left in (unless delivered in bulk), so HMRC can see it hasn't been diluted or changed. Where that isn't possible, you need HMRC's approval first.
Product with no satisfactory audit trail, or with unapproved additions, is excluded. You can't claim if it spoils more than 3 years after the duty was paid. You can't claim until you've destroyed or reprocessed it. Base the claim on the strength you were charged duty at, and only for the quantity actually destroyed or reprocessed. Other rules apply to how you destroy it (for example on pollution), and HMRC sometimes needs notice first: at least 5 working days to destroy duty-suspended product outside your premises.
Source: technical guide, section 15.
Don't dilute after the duty point
HMRC says you can't add water or another substance after the duty point if the result is meant for sale and doing it before the duty point would have meant more duty. In plain terms: you can't pay duty on a strong cider and then water it down to sell. Blending is normally done before the duty point, under your approval. Strength matters here: see what happens to your cider duty at 8.5% ABV.
What GOV.UK doesn't spell out
- Tasting your own product while you make it. The duty-free sample rules cover testing for quality control, strength and "other production-related analysis". They don't say whether sensory tasting by you or your staff counts. If you're unsure, ask HMRC.
- Cider made partly from bought-in fruit. The relief covers cider "made from fruit grown by a grower". It doesn't say what share of your fruit must be your own.
- What counts as "excessive". For the grower's allowance there's no upper limit, and no benchmark for what HMRC will accept. Keep a clear, written basis for your claim.
- Northern Ireland has extra rules that this guide doesn't cover.
What Duty Sorted does with this
- Each batch has a date made and a duty point date. Your monthly return figures cover the batches whose duty point falls in that month. If a batch is released in parts on different dates, record each part as its own batch.
- A batch marked spoiled isn't counted towards your production total and isn't put on a return. That matches HMRC's rule for cider unintentionally spoilt before the duty point, but you still need HMRC's records (date and time, vessel, volume, reason, method of destruction).
- It doesn't record samples, tastings, grower's domestic consumption or losses. Record those in your own business records, and log only the cider that actually passes its duty point.
- It doesn't work out claims for duty on cider that spoils after you've paid. HMRC's return has a section for adjustments, and Duty Sorted reminds you about it.
Keep track of what's passed its duty point
Duty Sorted keeps each batch's made date and duty-point date, and gets each month's figures ready in the order HMRC's service asks for them. Try your own numbers in the free calculator first. £15 a month after a 14-day free trial, no card needed to start.
This guide is general information, not tax advice, and rules can change. Check the GOV.UK pages linked above and ask HMRC or your adviser if you're unsure whether duty is due on a particular movement of cider. Duty Sorted is independent and is not made or approved by HMRC.