Guidance

Register for Soft Drinks Industry Levy

Find out when and how to register for the levy.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 3 April 2018
• Last updated: 24 January 2020 — See all updates

Who should register

Check if you need to register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.

When to register

There are different rules about when you need to register for the levy, depending on how and when you handle liable drinks.

You must register within 30 days of the:

• end of the month in which you packaged liable drinks for someone else
• date on which you know you’re going to package liable drinks for someone else in the next 30 days
• end of the month in which the levy becomes due on drinks brought into the UK
• date on which you know the levy will become due on drinks brought into the UK
• end of the month if you’ve produced over one million litres of liable drinks in the past 12 months (including any liable drinks produced before 6 April 2018)
• date on which you know that in the next 30 days you’ll produce over one million litres of liable drinks in the past 12 months (including any liable drinks produced before 6 April 2018)

If you need to register under more than one of these rules, you must register at the earliest date. You only need to register once.

If you do not register when you should

If you register late, HMRC may charge you a penalty, unless you have a reasonable excuse.

If you do not register when you should and you do not have a reasonable excuse, you’ll be committing an offence. If convicted, you could face:

• a prison term of no more than 12 months (6 months in Northern Ireland)
• both, or whichever is greater of:
  • a fine not exceeding £20,000
  • 3 times the amount of potential levy lost

What you’ll need

You’ll need:

• your business’s Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and postcode
• the address of any UK packaging sites where you package liable drinks
• the addresses of any UK premises you want to nominate as registered warehouses
• the amount, in litres and at each band, of any liable drinks that you’ve produced over the last 12 months
• the amount, in litres and at each band, of any liable drinks that, over the next 12 months:
  • you’ll package for your own brand, or brands you have the rights to
  • you’ll package for your customers
  • you’ll have packaged for you by someone else
  • you’ll sell under your brand
  • are brought into the UK and you’ll need to report for the levy

How to register

To register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, you need to have a Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not have a user ID, you can create one for your business when you register.

Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.

After you’ve registered

We’ll send you a reference number. You’ll need it to report drinks and pay the levy.

When you’re registered, you can sign in to your Soft Drinks Industry Levy account to manage your account and change your details.

Published 3 April 2018
Last updated 24 January 2020 + show all updates

1. 24 January 2020

   The 'Change your details' section has been removed from this page and published separately.

2. 8 May 2018

   You can now sign in to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy online to change your details. The page has been updated with the link to the service.

3. 11 April 2018

   Page has been updated with more information about how to change your details or cancel your registration.

4. 6 April 2018

   You can now register for the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. This page has been updated with the link to the registration service.

5. 3 April 2018

   First published.