Selling homemade cider
- Thread starter Steven
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Lots to read here - Register for Cider Duty
Who needs to register to make cider
If you make more than 7,000 litres of cider a year to sell, and it’s more than 1.2% ABV, you must register for Cider Duty with HMRC and pay duty.
You must also be registered if you make cider sparkling, unless you plan to carry out this process in an excise warehouse. You can make still and sparkling cider on the same registered premises.
Claim an exemption from registration
You can apply for an exemption from registration if you make, or expect to make, less than 7,000 litres of cider in a rolling 12 month period.
You can ask for an exemption from registration online.
If you make more than 7,000 litres in a year, you must register within 30 days of passing the limit.
If you’ve registered for Cider Duty and make less than 7,000 litres in a year, you’ll need to cancel your registration and claim an exemption.
Who needs to register to make cider
If you make more than 7,000 litres of cider a year to sell, and it’s more than 1.2% ABV, you must register for Cider Duty with HMRC and pay duty.
You must also be registered if you make cider sparkling, unless you plan to carry out this process in an excise warehouse. You can make still and sparkling cider on the same registered premises.
Claim an exemption from registration
You can apply for an exemption from registration if you make, or expect to make, less than 7,000 litres of cider in a rolling 12 month period.
You can ask for an exemption from registration online.
If you make more than 7,000 litres in a year, you must register within 30 days of passing the limit.
If you’ve registered for Cider Duty and make less than 7,000 litres in a year, you’ll need to cancel your registration and claim an exemption.
Where can you buy bulk apple juice cheap? 
1.2%....wonder if anyone bothers with that!
So if you make cider that is more than 1.2% but you make less than 7000 litres of it you do not need to register.
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yrhendystu
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I feel there's a loop hole here that could be exploited. You can do the prep work and sell it for people to brew at home.
BartonMillBrewer
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My understanding is that if you sell cider to the public you will need to apply for a licence from HMRC regardless of volume you produce. If you expect to produce less than 7000L you can apply for a duty exemption.
Additionally you will need to obtain a premises licence from your local authority before you start selling.
There are a number of duty bands depending on what you produce. Link to HMRC site below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ol-duty/alcohol-duty-rates-from-24-march-2014
Additionally you will need to obtain a premises licence from your local authority before you start selling.
There are a number of duty bands depending on what you produce. Link to HMRC site below.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ol-duty/alcohol-duty-rates-from-24-march-2014
PhilBrew
Landlord.
Hi @Chippy_Tea
Yes, there are fewer restrictions on making cider/perry for sale on a smaller scale than for beer or wine, but don't be fooled into thinking there are none
Cheers, PhilB
... as the many threads discussing the sale of the products of our "hobby", on this forum and others, will testify ... as often as not, it isn't the registration with HMRC and the paying of Duty that is the "blocker" to plans to do that, but the "hoops" with environmental health that need to be "jumped through" in order to sell any product for consumption and the licensing (required to sell alcohol for consumption) that will make the scheme more difficult/non-viable.
Yes, there are fewer restrictions on making cider/perry for sale on a smaller scale than for beer or wine, but don't be fooled into thinking there are none
Cheers, PhilB
I don't make cider so the legality of selling it will never be an issue, the wording i linked to is very vague I would love to see someone sell cider withing the rules posted above and see what would happen.
PhilBrew
Landlord.
... I don't think it is, but maybe I've been spending too much time with "legal-eagles" recently and I've started understanding how they write things
... higher up the page you linked to it defines what cider is and when it becomes applicable to duty ...Cider Duty
Duty is charged on cider that’s made to sell and is:
- made by fermenting apple or pear juice and only adding permitted ingredients
- more than 1.2% but less than 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV)
... so it's already the case that if you make cider that is less than 1.2% ABV then you won't need to pay Cider Duty ... and it also goes on to talk about how if you make Cider stronger then 8.5% ABV it's not classed as Cider it's "made wine" and you need to follow the regulations that apply to that ... so when it talks about needing to register "If you make more than 7,000 litres of cider a year to sell, and it’s more than 1.2% ABV ... ", they really do mean that you don't need to register if you make/sell cider less than 1.2% ABV (because there's no duty on it then, anyway) ... but if you make it stronger than 1.2% (but under 8.5% when it stops being cider and becomes "made wine", anyway) and you make (or are likely to make) less than 7000lts per 12 month rolling period then you don't need to register ... but you do need to apply for an exemption to registration (a sort of "registration of non-registration", if you like, but at least that can be done relatively easily, online) and won't need to pay any duty.
All crystal clear, unlike the cider
... ISTR this being brought in a few years ago to encourage/help out small scale producers (mostly in the West Country) selling flagons of farm produced scrumpy in their farm shops, and the like (Note: the exemption from registration and duty is only applicable to cider other than sparkling cider (i.e. flat cider))Cheers, PhilB
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Who needs to register to make cider
If you make more than 7,000 litres of cider a year to sell, and it’s more than 1.2% ABV, you must register for Cider Duty with HMRC and pay duty.
Claim an exemption from registration
You can apply for an exemption from registration if you make, or expect to make, less than 7,000 litres of cider in a rolling 12 month period.
You can get a TENS (Temporary Event Notice) to "sell over the garden fence". These are issued by the local authority and you can apply for a maximum of 10 per year.
I understand you can also sell to a Licence Holder (e.g. Publican, Shop Owner) without holding a Licence yourself. The onus is on you to confirm their credentials.
There's a wealth of info available here.
These are specific exemptions for cider and don't apply to beer.
I understand you can also sell to a Licence Holder (e.g. Publican, Shop Owner) without holding a Licence yourself. The onus is on you to confirm their credentials.
There's a wealth of info available here.
These are specific exemptions for cider and don't apply to beer.
PhilBrew
Landlord.
... and I still don't see anything there that is left vague ... what is it that you think is not clear?
Cheers, PhilB
When I looked into it ages ago it was the food safety standards of where you produce the Cider were more a PITA than the HMRC.
Sell it as a beveridge for dogs or toilet cleaner and not for human consumption (like my Marmite wine) and that should get you round H&S/hygiene rules etc.
There was a character on Mendip who made cider, "Lukee" I seem to remember, who used to go around in what appeared to be a Stetson hat. He had a lorry, a three axle rigid I think, that had written on the sides something like: "The road may be long/The road may be bumpy/But we don't care 'cos we've got our scrumpy!" on the sides. He was badly affected by some tax or charge (VAT?) that had come in, and his business ceased, but not before he'd been looking into selling apple juice in containers with a sachet of yeast to stick in it. The idea wasn't a goer, I assume because of the time factors involved for the possible buyers.
Could be a goer now, things have changed somewhat since then. Craft gin, beer and whisky, less people drinking in pubs. People like to make stuff; kombucha, kimchi and supermarket juice wines (one or two even make their own stronger stuff
).
