Commonwealth of Australia Gazette · 07 Sep 2026 · 3 vistas
Customs duty rises on beer, spirits and fuels from August 3
Por FactBox Admin
The Comptroller-General of Customs has raised the excise-equivalent customs duty on beer, spirits, petroleum fuels, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, with the new rates operative on and from 3 August 2026. The change is set out in Notice (No. 3) 2026, issued under subsection 19(9) of the Customs Tariff Act 1995 and published in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on 7 September 2026 (official reference C2026G00592).
The notice was signed on 29 July 2026 by Melissa Catania, delegate of the Comptroller-General of Customs, and applies the annual CPI indexation to the rates of customs duty charged on excise-equivalent goods. The increased rates apply both to goods classified to Schedule 3 of the Customs Tariff Act and to goods covered by the preferential tariff schedules for Australia’s free-trade partners.
Goods and new rates
The indexation sets new per-unit duty rates across the affected tariff subheadings:
- Beer and other fermented beverages: $55.83 per litre of alcohol (for alcohol content above 1.15% by volume) and $65.03 per litre for higher-strength products.
- Spirits and other distilled beverages: $110.15 per litre of alcohol, plus customs duty where applicable.
- One spirits subheading (2208.20.10): $102.87 per litre of alcohol.
- Petroleum fuels, including diesel, ethanol and biodiesel and their blends: $0.537 per litre.
- Liquefied natural gas and compressed natural gas: $0.368 per kilogram.
- Liquefied petroleum gas: $0.175 per litre.
Scope of the increase
The new rates apply to a wide range of tariff subheadings covering beer, wine, cider, spirits, denatured alcohol, petroleum oils and gases. They also extend to excise-equivalent goods originating under Australia’s preferential trade arrangements, including goods from Singapore, the United States, Thailand, Peru, Chile, the ASEAN–Australia–New Zealand bloc, the Pacific Islands, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea, India, Japan, China, Hong Kong, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Impact on consumers and importers
Because the duty is levied per unit of alcohol or fuel rather than as a percentage of price, the indexation directly raises the landed cost of imported beer, spirits and fuels, a cost that is typically passed on to consumers at the point of sale. Importers of these goods should apply the new rates from 3 August 2026 and adjust their pricing and customs declarations accordingly.
Source: Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, Government Notices, 7 September 2026, p. 1 (official reference: C2026G00592).