Nearly 400 German breweries have deferred their excise payments

Germany | With beer production declining almost 5 percent in the first ten months of 2020, some 380 breweries have asked the taxman to defer their excise payments until the end of this year.

To date, the tax authorities are owed nearly EUR 80 million (USD 96 million) in beer tax. In 2019, Germany’s 1,500 breweries combined paid EUR 617 million (USD 740 million) in excise.

In a survey by the German Brewers Association some of its members said that their turnover had declined nearly 70 percent this year. And that was even before the second lockdown began in early November.

Because of the second lockdown, draught beer sales have stopped altogether again. Hospitality venues, which make the bulk of their sales from beverages, have seen their turnover dwindle to 45 percent of the previous year’s. Although brewers, which often act as landlords too, welcome the state’s support for pubs – for the month of November, publicans can reclaim 75 percent of last November’s turnover from the government – they themselves are not entitled to this.