Surprise parcel from Bordeaux: St-Emilion Grand Screw

Michael,

not to be unpolite but were you about about the different meanings of "screw" in the language of Her Majesty the Queen when you wrote the subject of this post?

Best, tongue in cheek,

Santiago

"Michael Pronay" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@pronay.com...

Yea, sure ... provided you don´t live in Sweden, of course ... :(((

Cheers

Nils Gustaf

Of course not. Honni soit qui mal y pense.

M.

Yeah, those f@X*#+ß/\ monopoly states ...

M.

No, Austria. Apart from down under (AU+NZ) and apart from the special case Switzerland, Austria is the forerunner for screwcaps in Europe.

M.

or the UK where duty is 1.24GBP +17.5% value added tax per bottle

Tim Hartley

Even on a three bottle gift pack?

M.

At least in theory, yes. Yu might well not be charged for something like that sent as a sample but strictly speaking it could be held until you paid up. The only exception is wine or spirits for your own use which you personally bring back (accompanying it) from the EEC. Many of us thought once we entered the EEC or Common Market as it then was we would be able to buy wine at European prices and tax levels. It was not the only thing we were wrong about but we were certainly wrong about this.

Tim Hartley

It is now called EU ;-)

Within the EU there is no duty on wine. There may however be an excise tax in various countries. As for sales tax, it is applied in all countries, in the UK it is lower than most of the other 25 countries of the EU...

cheers m8

I know - it keeps changing its name but not its spots.

I wish I could agree with you - there is an Excise Duty on all wine brought into the United Kingdom — see:

I have paid it too often not to know! Cheers Tim Hartley

That is what I wrote ;-) No duty, but excise tax. This exists in all countries, though at varying levels.

cheers

Mike

The confusion arises because it is officially called an Excise Duty not Excise Tax — the pointis that payment of it has to be made regardless of semantics. I am intersted to hear that you believe that the UK Duty is lower than most of the other EU countries. Certainly it is higher — especially as a proportion of price on the low and middle to upper middle range wines — than in France, Germany, Italy or Spain. I know some Scandinavian countries are worse than us but is the majority of the EU? On a bottle retailing here at GBP5·00 the Government takes GBP1·98 or nearly 40% including value added tax. On a bottle retailing at GBP8·00 it takes GBP 2·43. Dearer wine gets off morelightly in proportional terms - a GBP15 bottle is taxed at GBP3·47 and a GBP25 one at ”only• 4·96 — but still more than the combined excise tax and TVA in France.

Tim Hartley

Not in Austria (nor in Germany, btw). And, afaik, not in France. Italy and Benelux. VAT yes, but no excise tax. Don't know about Spain & Portugal, but I'ver never heard of.

In fact UK & Scandinavian countries seem to be the only (don't know about the new members in Eastern Europe, though).

OK, if we are splitting hair, it may be possible that the countries who don't levy excise tax do have them, but at 0%. ;-)

M.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Caution, please read what Mike has written previously! *Salex tax* = VAT at 17.5% is lower than in most EU countries.

Now let's have a look at VAT rates:

(For ISO 3166 country codes look here: )

So Mike is absolutely right.

Perfectly right, but that was not was Mike was talking about.

M.

Yes, afaik, Germany does have such a tax as required by the EU. The rate is set nationally, however, and Germany has selected 0% Anders

Not only Germany, but apparently all western EU wine producing countries including Austria - except UK.

Note that Austria had a special tax on sparkling wines (one that was introduced in 1938 when Austria was Nazi Germany's first major annection/occupation) until April 1st, 2005 (~ EUR 1.37/litre, iirc), when this tax was not abolished, but set to zero. Germany still has a tax on sparklers, iirc.

M.