For small Australian distilleries, the Excise Remission Scheme is one of the most valuable pieces of policy you'll deal with. Used well, it can mean little or no excise duty payable until you reach real scale. Here is how it works.
Note: General information only, not tax advice. Confirm eligibility and current rules with the ATO or an excise adviser.
What the scheme is
The Excise remission scheme for manufacturers of alcoholic beverages gives eligible producers a full (100%) remission of the excise duty they would otherwise pay — up to $350,000 per financial year.
In effect, the first $350,000 of excise duty you'd owe each year is remitted. Beyond that, you pay full duty.
Who is eligible
Eligibility centres on being a genuine, independent manufacturer. Broadly, you must:
- Manufacture the alcoholic beverages yourself (be a licensed manufacturer)
- Be legally and economically independent of other producers you don't deal with at arm's length
- Meet the ATO's conditions for the scheme
Groups of connected entities generally share a single $350,000 cap, so structure matters. This is worth confirming with an adviser if you're part of any larger group.
How the cap works
Two details trip people up:
- The cap is per financial year — 1 July to 30 June — not the calendar year.
- It resets each 1 July.
So your tracking has to follow the Australian financial year. If you cross $350,000 of remission in, say, April, you pay full duty on everything entered for home consumption for the rest of that financial year, then the cap refreshes on 1 July.
How to claim it
For eligible manufacturers the remission is generally applied automatically through your excise return process rather than as a separate refund application — you reduce the duty payable by the remission amount, up to the cap. Keep clear records showing how much remission you've applied so far in the year.
(Note: this scheme replaced and expanded the earlier refund arrangements. If you read older guides referring to a 60% refund capped at $100,000, that has been superseded — see remission scheme vs the old refund.)
Why tracking your cap matters
Knowing how much of your $350,000 you've used is a cash-flow decision, not just a compliance one. It tells you:
- When duty will start hitting your margins this year
- Whether to time a large bottling run before or after the cap
- How much headroom you have for growth before the reset
If you only discover you've hit the cap when a big duty bill arrives, you've lost the chance to plan around it.
How CaskPilot handles it
Because CaskPilot is built around the ATO, the remission cap is tracked automatically:
- Every bottling run calculates excise and applies remission up to the cap
- A live gauge shows remaining cap for the current financial year
- The cap resets automatically on 1 July
- Your monthly excise statement shows duty, remission and net payable
No spreadsheet, no manual running total, no nasty surprises. See the full picture in our ATO excise compliance guide.
The bottom line
The Excise Remission Scheme can transform the economics of a small distillery — up to $350,000 of duty remitted each financial year. The key is eligibility and tracking: know you qualify, and always know how much of your cap remains.
Want your remission tracked automatically? Book a demo.