This is the beginning of a series of cards in which we examine different types of excise duties across Europe, starting with excise duties on beer.
According to EU law, every EU country must levy an excise tax of at least € 1.87 per 100 liters (26.4 gal) and alcohol content on beer, which is around € 0.03 per 330 ml (11.2 oz) beer bottle at 5 . corresponds to% vol. As this map shows, few EU countries stick close to the minimum rate; most of them charge much higher excise taxes.
Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom are the three countries covered with the highest excise duties on beer. Finland has the highest excise tax on beer in Europe at € 0.63 per 330 ml beer bottle. Ireland and the United Kingdom come in second and third with € 0.37 and € 0.35, respectively.
Bulgaria, Germany, Luxembourg, Romania and Spain charge roughly the EU minimum rate of € 0.03 per beer bottle.
All European countries covered also levy a value added tax (VAT) on beer, which is levied on the sales value of a beer bottle. The consumption tax amounts in the above map refer to consumption taxes only and do not include VAT.
| country | Excise tax per 330ml (11.2oz) beer bottle at 5% vol | |
|---|---|---|
| Euro | U.S. dollar | |
| AustriaAT) | € 0.08 | $ 0.09 |
| Belgium (BE) | € 0.08 | $ 0.09 |
| Bulgaria (BG) | € 0.03 | $ 0.04 |
| Croatia (HR) | € 0.09 | $ 0.10 |
| Cyprus (CY) | € 0.10 | $ 0.11 |
| Czech Republic (CZ) | € 0.05 | $ 0.06 |
| Denmark (DK) | € 0.11 | $ 0.12 |
| Estonia (EE) | € 0.21 | $ 0.24 |
| Finland (FI) | € 0.63 | $ 0.72 |
| France (FR) | € 0.13 | $ 0.14 |
| Germany (DE) | € 0.03 | $ 0.04 |
| Greece (GR) | € 0.21 | $ 0.24 |
| Hungary (HU) | € 0.07 | $ 0.08 |
| Ireland (IE) | € 0.37 | $ 0.42 |
| Italy (IT) | € 0.12 | $ 0.14 |
| Latvia (LV) | € 0.14 | $ 0.15 |
| Lithuania (LT) | € 0.12 | $ 0.13 |
| Luxembourg (LU) | € 0.03 | $ 0.04 |
| Malta (MT) | € 0.08 | $ 0.09 |
| Netherlands (NL) | € 0.13 | $ 0.14 |
| Poland (PL) | € 0.08 | $ 0.09 |
| Portugal (PT) | € 0.07 | $ 0.08 |
| Romania (RO) | € 0.03 | $ 0.04 |
| Slovakia (SK) | € 0.06 | $ 0.07 |
| Slovenia (SI) | € 0.20 | $ 0.23 |
| Spain (ES) | € 0.03 | $ 0.04 |
| Sweden (SE) | € 0.32 | $ 0.36 |
| United Kingdom (GB) | € 0.35 | $ 0.40 |
|
Source: European Commission, “Taxes in Europe Database”, accessed on July 23, 2021, https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/tedb/splSearchForm.html; and Gov.uk, “Tax on Shopping and Services: Alcohol and Tobacco Taxes”, https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-shopping/alcohol-tobacco. Notes: Some countries have reduced excise duties for independent microbreweries. The average exchange rate of the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for 2020 was used to convert euros into dollars (USD 1 = EUR 0.877). |
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