Excise duties

What is excise duty?

Excise duty is a tax that applies to certain goods, including alcohol. It is separate from VAT and is usually calculated based on the amount of alcohol in the product — the higher the alcohol content, the higher the excise.

For whisky, this tax must be paid before the bottle can be legally sold or consumed. Each EU country sets its own excise rates and rules, which is why excise duty often needs to be paid again when a bottle is shipped across borders.

Why is excise duty charged when delivering whisky?

When we ship a bottle of whisky to the buyer, we are legally required to charge excise duty. This is because excise is a tax on alcohol that must be paid in the country where the product is consumed. That's part of a European regulation (EU Directive 2020/262).

Even if the distillery originally paid excise duty, authorities in the Netherlands and other EU countries often do not accept that as sufficient proof. Once a bottle is shipped again — for example, from the Netherlands to Germany or Poland — it is considered a new delivery, and excise must be paid again in the destination country.

Even for shipments or pickups within the Netherlands, we must charge excise duty unless we can prove that duty has already been paid and the bottle has remained within the regular commercial supply chain. Since that is rarely the case with auction bottles, customs requires us to pay the excise duty.

Take this example:

Another example:

At our auction, you can choose what to do with your bottles after you win some. You can:

• Have it shipped
• Pick it up at our office
• Store it with us voor a certain time
• Or relist it in a future auction

Each option works slightly differently when it comes to excise duty:

Shipping

If we ship the bottle within the EU, we charge the excise duty of the destination country, per bottle.

Pickup

If you pick up your bottle at our office in the Netherlands, we always apply the Dutch excise duty.

Storage

If you place your bottle in storage with us, Dutch excise duty is due right away, since the bottle stays in the Netherlands.

Later, if you have it shipped to another EU country, we'll adjust the excise charge to match that country's rate – and either charge the difference or refund the excess. If you live outside the EU, we'll refund the excise when your bottle leaves the EU.

Relisting for auction

If you choose to relist the bottle for a (scheduled!) future auction, no excise duty is charged at this time. The new buyer will pay the excise when they decide what to do with the bottle.