Ditton Wine Traders’ fine wine blog

In a bid to boost demand, the Chancellor of the British Government has temporarily lowered the VAT rate from 17.5% to 15%. This of course only applies to duty paid wine. Whilst the drop in the VAT rate might help to increase demand for other goods, it won’t do any good for wine, champagne and port, as the excise duty rates are simultaniously increased as per below:

I suspect that these increased rates are here to stay, even after the VAT rate will go up to 17.5% again in a maximum of 2 years time.

Please note that both the new VAT and duty rates come into effect on December 1st.