Do you produce, store or supply spirits, wine or made wine for the UK market? If you do, you need to act now to be ready for the UK Duty Stamps Scheme. From 1st October 2006, bottles of spirits, wine and made wine of 30% ABV or more will have to display a duty stamp when they pass a UK Excise duty point. This means that from this date onwards, you will not be able to release unstamped bottles onto the UK market without first affixing duty stamps. To find out how the new Duty Stamps Scheme will affect your business and what you need to do to be ready, visit www.ukdutystamps.info and give yourself a head start.
Your checklist
To help prepare for the scheme, you may need to make some changes to your business activities. There are also some key decisions you will have to make well in advance of 1 October 2006 to ensure your business is prepared. The following is not an exhaustive list but is intended to give you an idea of what you may need to consider:
Find out more about the scheme at
Capital Grants are available to help small and medium sized businesses during the introduction of the UK Duty Stamps Scheme. If you will physically affix duty stamps to bottles as part of this scheme, and you will incur capital expenditure to do so, you could be eligible for a grant of up to €100,000.
To qualify, your business must have a turnover of less than €50m and a balance sheet of less than €43m, and fewer than 250 employees. Eligible costs include, for example, new labelling machinery on your bottling line, or any other fixed capital equipment that enables your business to affix duty stamps to bottles.
Applications for Capital Grants must be received by 1 October 2006.
Don’t miss out, visit www.ukdutystamps.info or call the helpline on 0845 010 9000 for an application form or further information.
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