German home and hobby brewers will no longer be required to pay taxes on the small quantities of beer they produce. Following an announcement aimed at reducing bureaucracy, the German government intends to raise the threshold from 200 to 500 liters per year, exempting nearly all of the 10,000 hobby brewers registered with German customs from tax payments. Additionally, hobby brewers will no longer be burdened with the administrative task of reporting their production.
The proposed tax relief measures are outlined in the draft of the annual tax legislation. While still in the early stages of the political process and awaiting final approval, the plans are likely to proceed. According to a government response to a written inquiry from the opposition party, the revenue generated from this levy was only about EUR 7,000 in beer tax from hobby brewers in the first half of 2022, significantly less than the administrative cost of registration and tax collection.
