Check if you need to register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy
You may need to register for the levy if you produce or package liable drinks, and you're not a small producer.
Businesses that must register
Your business must register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy if you:
- own the brand of a liable drink, or produce liable drinks under another brand, and you’re not a small producer
- bottle, can or otherwise package liable drinks for someone else
If you’ve produced liable drinks in the past, but you do not produce any liable drinks after 6 April 2018, you do not have to register for the levy as a producer.
You may need to register, report and pay the levy if you’re involved in bringing liable drinks into the UK from anywhere else, including the EU and Channel Islands.
If any of your liable drinks are packaged by someone outside the UK, and you bring liable drinks back into the UK, you may need to register, report and pay the levy.
If you produce less than one million litres of liable drinks
You’re classed as a small producer and do not need to register for the levy if all the following apply:
- you, and anyone connected to you, produced less than one million litres (worldwide) of liable drinks over the past 12 rolling months (including before 6 April 2018)
- you, and anyone connected to you, will not produce over one million litres of liable drinks in the next 30 days
You can choose to register for the levy if you use a contract packager. You’ll get a registration number which you can give to them so that they will not have to pay the levy on your drinks.
You must register as a producer if, at the end of any month, the amount of liable drinks you’ve produced over the past 12 rolling months (including before 6 April 2018) is more than one million litres.
If, over the past 12 rolling months, you’ve produced more than one million litres of liable drinks but have started to produce fewer liable drinks, you might need to register from 6 April 2018. When your production goes below one million litres over the past 12 rolling months, you can cancel your registration. You can then choose to register as a small producer if you use a contract packager.
Connected persons
A person is connected with you if they are:
- your husband, wife or civil partner
- your relatives (not including nephews, nieces, uncles or aunts) and their husbands, wives or civil partners
- your husband’s, wife’s or civil partner’s relatives and their husbands, wives or civil partners
- your business partners and their husbands, wives, civil partners and relatives (if this applies)
- companies that you control, either by yourself or with any of the persons listed above
- trustees of a settlement of which you are a settlor, or of which a person who is still alive and who is connected with you is a settlor
How to register
Find out when and how to register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.