Reclaiming duty on lost, spoiled and sample stock
When you record stock as lost, spoiled or used for samples, Breww checks whether any of it is duty-paid. Duty-suspended stock has had no duty paid on it, so there's nothing to reclaim. For duty-paid stock, you decide whether Breww reclaims the duty on your duty return.
This applies to UK alcohol duty, self-managed duty, and the excise duty reports for Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Germany. US breweries report losses on their Brewer's Report of Operations instead, so they don't see these options (see US breweries below).
Which stock has already had duty paid on it
Duty becomes payable when stock leaves duty suspension, usually when it's dispatched on a delivery or moved to a non-bonded location. Stock that a customer returned to you after delivery is duty-paid, and so is stock held in a non-bonded location. With German duty, beer returned to a bonded location goes back under duty suspension instead, and the duty is offset on your duty return.
When a loss could come from both duty-paid and duty-suspended units of the same product, Breww uses up the duty-paid units first.
Setting your defaults
Your defaults decide whether Breww reclaims duty for each type of loss. If you have the Excise duty permission, you can choose differently when you record a loss.
- Go to Settings -> Business, duty & account -> [your duty name] settings.
- In the Lost and spoiled stock section, find Reclaim duty already paid on stock removed and categorised as.
- Enable each type you want Breww to reclaim duty on by default, and disable the others:
- Lost
- Spoiled
- Sample
- Stock take shortfall
- Click Save settings.
All four are enabled until you change them.
Breww also uses your Spoiled default when it records spoiled stock for you, for example when you ullage a container.
A change to your defaults applies to losses you record afterwards. Existing records keep the choice they were made with.
Which losses qualify for a reclaim depends on your circumstances, so choose the defaults that fit your brewery. If you're not sure, check with your duty authority or accountant.
Stock take shortfalls
When a stock take finds less stock than Breww expected, Breww records the difference as lost. If any of that stock was duty-paid, your Stock take shortfall default decides whether Breww reclaims the duty. You aren't asked on each stock take.
Stock that a stock take finds is added back duty-suspended, so it pays duty again when you deliver it. Reclaiming on shortfalls keeps a miscount balanced: if a duty-paid keg is missed in one count and found in the next, the duty reclaimed on the shortfall matches the duty paid again when that keg is delivered.
Choosing for a single record
When you record a loss, Breww shows the Reclaim duty already paid on this stock field if any of the stock you could remove is duty-paid and you have the Excise duty permission. The field appears in these places:
- To empty a container, open the cask, keg or non-returnable's page and use Actions -> Empty container.
- To reduce a product's stock, open the product and use Actions -> Stock adjustment -> Reduce stock. This covers casks and kegs, smallpack and guest beer.
- To remove a pallet from stock, open the pallet and use Remove from stock.
Choose one of these options:
- Use your default for this type is selected to start with. It lists your current defaults (for example "Lost: reclaim, Spoiled: reclaim, Sample: don't reclaim"), and Breww applies the one for the type you pick in Lost or spoiled.
- Reclaim duty reclaims the duty on this record, whatever your default says.
- Don't reclaim duty leaves the duty unclaimed on this record.
If the field isn't shown, either none of the stock is duty-paid, so there's nothing to reclaim, or you don't have the Excise duty permission, so Breww applies your default for that type of loss.
Breww only reclaims duty on the duty-paid units the loss uses. If you pick a specific container that is still duty-suspended, nothing is reclaimed whichever option you choose.
Where the reclaim appears
- For UK alcohol duty, the reclaim goes on your in-progress duty return.
- In Australia, the volume goes in the Reclaimable totals section of your excise duty report. See Australian alcohol excise duty.
- In New Zealand, it goes in the Duty credit (reclaimable) section. See New Zealand alcohol excise duty.
- In the Netherlands, it goes in Terugwinbaar totalen (reclaimable totals). See Dutch beer excise duty (bieraccijns).
- In Germany, it goes in the Reclaimable totals tab of your Biersteuer report. See German beer duty (Biersteuer).
Checking which records reclaimed duty
Open your duty dashboard and click Lost and spoiled records, then open a month or click View all. You can also find these records under Reporting.
The Duty reclaimed column shows:
- Yes means some of the stock was duty-paid and Breww reclaimed that duty.
- No means some of the stock was duty-paid, but the record doesn't reclaim it.
- - means none of the stock was duty-paid, or Breww hasn't finished processing the record yet.
The column is included when you export the list.
US breweries
If you report to the TTB, Breww reports lost, spoiled and sample beer on your Brewer's Report of Operations, and the reclaim setting and field aren't shown. TTB Brewer's Reports of Operations lists the line each type goes on.