The amount of tax lost to the illicit beer market ballooned by 45% last year and illegal supplies now account for a shocking 14% of the total market, figures released by HMRC this week have revealed.
Customs officials estimated they lost out on £800m of duty and VAT from illicit beer sales in the year to April 2010. The figure easily outstrips the £527.6m in off-trade sales of Britain's biggest alcohol brand, Stella Artois [Nielsen 52w/e 14 May 2011]. The sum lost from illicit spirit sales also rose, by £130m to £440m, and now represents 11% of the market, the report said.
While the loss from spirit fraud is still below its £550m peak, loss from beer is at an all-time high.
The Federation of Wholesale Distributors, said some members had lost 40% of their beer sales and renewed its calls for the government to introduce duty stamps on beer cans and bottles. "We have an opportunity to tackle this illegal trade and restore millions of pounds of duty to the Treasury," said CEO James Bielby. "We believe our distribution partners, from manufacturers to retailers, should support our proposals."
The measure had helped to reduce spirit and tobacco fraud, he added. But brewers' association BBPA said it would not back the FWD's calls for duty stamps. "Duty stamps are totally at odds with the government's objectives of reducing regulatory burdens on business. Spirits and beer cannot be treated the same in terms of alcohol content, a single bottle of spirits equates to 20 cans of beer," said a spokesman.
An HMRC spokesman said the figures did not reflect the impact of a new strategy to tackle illicit booze. "In its first year, the strategy has almost doubled the impact we have had on alcohol fraud," he said. "The Chancellor announced in the 2011 Budget that the government will also explore potential legislative measures to tackle existing and emerging threats to alcohol duty receipts and we are consulting informally on these issues currently."
Customs officials estimated they lost out on £800m of duty and VAT from illicit beer sales in the year to April 2010. The figure easily outstrips the £527.6m in off-trade sales of Britain's biggest alcohol brand, Stella Artois [Nielsen 52w/e 14 May 2011]. The sum lost from illicit spirit sales also rose, by £130m to £440m, and now represents 11% of the market, the report said.
While the loss from spirit fraud is still below its £550m peak, loss from beer is at an all-time high.
The Federation of Wholesale Distributors, said some members had lost 40% of their beer sales and renewed its calls for the government to introduce duty stamps on beer cans and bottles. "We have an opportunity to tackle this illegal trade and restore millions of pounds of duty to the Treasury," said CEO James Bielby. "We believe our distribution partners, from manufacturers to retailers, should support our proposals."
The measure had helped to reduce spirit and tobacco fraud, he added. But brewers' association BBPA said it would not back the FWD's calls for duty stamps. "Duty stamps are totally at odds with the government's objectives of reducing regulatory burdens on business. Spirits and beer cannot be treated the same in terms of alcohol content, a single bottle of spirits equates to 20 cans of beer," said a spokesman.
An HMRC spokesman said the figures did not reflect the impact of a new strategy to tackle illicit booze. "In its first year, the strategy has almost doubled the impact we have had on alcohol fraud," he said. "The Chancellor announced in the 2011 Budget that the government will also explore potential legislative measures to tackle existing and emerging threats to alcohol duty receipts and we are consulting informally on these issues currently."
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