Tag: excise tax

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Tax Extension

I know that the words excise tax either cause sleep or sleeplessness.  The first due to mind numbing legalese that need to be carefully read to be understood and the latter because, well, no one likes paying taxes.

But stick with this post a minute.  One of the few good things in the Trump “Don’t Tax the Rich but I Won’t Show My Tax Returns” plan was that there was relief for small brewers as well as other alcohol producers and importers.  The bad thing, the tax was temporary. 

That temporary status is on the road for a one-year extension with the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act of 2019 which will be voted on by the full House of Representatives, then if all goes well, to the Senate and then for the Cheeto to doodle on before he realizes he has to sign it.

And if they do this enough times, maybe they can make it permanent.

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I’m Just a Bill

Here we go again for the 4th time.  That’s the charm, right?

The Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act – Small BREW Act for short – was re-introduced by Representatives Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Richard E, Neal (D-MA), (That’s both sides of the aisle, how did that happen?)

The goal of the Small BREW Act will help the lower production tiers in the brewery world. The tax rate on a brewery’s first 60,000 barrels goes from $7 to $3.50. If you are between 60,001 and 2 million barrels, the excise tax rate from $18 per barrel to $16 . You do have to brew under 6 million barrels to qualify and anything between the 2 million and 6 uses the current tax rate.

Any tax relief will be of help for those in the affected production brackets.  Those are financially hard areas to break even.  But I wouldn’t hold my breath.  This legislation has gone further than others but still has fallen short.  Maybe it can get attached to a non-attention getting Omnibus bill and slide through that route.

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