Statistics on alcohol sales

Name: Statistics on alcohol sales
Topic: Wholesale and retail trade and service activities

Division for Structural Business Statistics

Publication of data at the national level only.

Earlier annually, from the first quarter of 2003 quarterly.

Primary data and the compiled statistics are saved on Excel-files.

Official Norwegian alcohol statistics were published as of 1910, with figures back to 1851. The purpose of the statistics is to map the development in registered turnover for alcoholic beverages in Norway.

Users include public and private sector agencies, organizations and individuals.

No external users have access to the statistics and analyses before they are published and accessible simultaneously for all users on ssb.no at 8 am. Prior to this, a minimum of three months' advance notice is given in the Statistics Release Calendar.

For more information see Statistics Norway's principle of equal treatment of users

Statistic Norway's statistics on alcohol sales are related to:

The Norwegian Brewers and Soft Drink Producers' salestatistics
The state-owned wine and spirit monopoly's sales statistics
Statistics Norway's index of retail sales that shows the development in trade with beverages in specialised stores.
Statistics Norway's wholesale and retail trade sales statistics that shows turnover figures in NOK for trade with beverages in specialised stores.

The Statistics Act, paragraphs 4-9.

The statistics comprise all alcoholic beverages that producers and importers declare liable to excise duty in the course of a quarter. The liability to pay duty arises at the import or withdrawal of alcoholic beverages from premises which the Norwegain Tax Administration has approved for the production or storage of dutiable goods. Alcohol for medicinal, technical or scientific use are not included in the figures. Alcoholic beverages that are brewed at home, purchased abroad, or smuggled into the country are also excluded.

The Norwegian Tax Administration system ELSÆR (system for electronic raporting of excise duties). The reports obtained from ELSÆR concern the self-determination of excise duties, including notification of changes. In addition, reports are obatined from Avgiftsweb on authority determinations after checks/refunds.

The statistics are based on a full census survey.

All producers of alcoholic beverages and importers of beverages with an alcohol content over 0.7 volume per cent must register with the Norwegian Tax Administration, cf. the excise duty regulations (saf.) § 3-2-1 first paragraph and §5-1 letter a. As a general rule, that tax obligation also applies to importers of alcoholic beverages with an alcohol strength above 2.5% by volum, cf. saf. §5-1 letter e. The duty to pay does not cover the production for own use of an alcoholic drink that is not spirits.

Companies which are not registered with the Norwegian Tax Administration must declare and pay taxes on alcoholic beverages at import, cf. saf. §5-2. Refers to the Norwegian Tax Administration registration guide on their website.

Enterprises that are registered as liable for excise duties must report their excise duties in the reportingsystem ELSÆR. Registered enterprises that pay excise tax must submit their tax returns to ELSÆR by the 18th of the following month. Taxpayers register tax codes consisting of tax type and tax group. Tax group is linked to the type of alcohol and alcohol strenght.

Approximately two months after the tax declaration month Statistics Norway receives turnover figures for beer, spirits and wine per tax group from the Norwegian Tax Administration, measured in litres sold.

Turnover measured as litres as sold
The turnover of each type of beverage is computed by adding up the amount of litres as sold from the Customs' turnover figures according to the classification of alcoholic beverages.

Turnover measured as litres pure alcohol
The turnover of spirits multiplied with the average alcohol content divided by 100, gives an estimate for the turnover measured as litres pure alcohol. The turnover of wine and alcopops measured as litres pure alcohol are calculated in the same way. For beer, Statistics Norway have information on the average alcohol content per tax group. Consequently, the total litres of pure alcohol is computed from the turnover measured as litres pure alcohol per tax group and then aggregate to total litres of pure alcohol for beer. Finally the total turnover measured as litres of pure alcohol is computed from the aggregated turnover figures for the different types of beverages.

Turnover per capita
As the turnover of alcoholic beverages rises with the number of inhabitants, the average turnover per capita 15 years and over who are registered as Norwegian residents at January 1 in the year of interest is also computed.

The series of statistics on alcohol sales dates back to 1851, but contain a number of breaks. The most important breaks are described here.

Changes in the calculation method of the consumption of beer
From the 1980's the consumption of beer was calculated based on tax declarations from the Directorate of Customs and Excise instead of the declarations from breweries' distribution of beer, as was the case from 1913. Before that time information from county governors' five year reports were used to start with and then statements on corn set aside to malt from 1858.

Changes in the calculation of the consumption of spirits, wine and alcopops
After the prohibition against sale of spirits and fortified wine was introduced in 1917, people constantly acquired more spirits by means of medical certificate or for technical purposes, and used it as beverage. Consequently, lawful sales of spirits was included in the calculation of the total consumption of alcohol from 1921 - when its calculation was reliable - until 1931. No figures on the consumption of spirits were published for previous years during the prohibition period.

When the state-owned wine and spirit monopoly was established in 1923, it became easier to compute the consumption of spirits and wine more precisely, based on the company's import and sales statements. In previous years, production and import figures were used to compute the consumption of spirits, while the consumption of wine was considered equal to its import up until 1924.

The wholesale monopoly was, however, abolished in 1996. Statistics of wine and spirits have since then been calculated with the aid of turnover data from the Directorate of Customs and Excise. The average alcohol content is still collected from the state-owned wine and spirit monopoly and the Norwegian Brewers and Soft Drink Producers. It is used to calculate the number of litres pure alcohol sold by others than the state-owned wine and spirit monopoly. A similar break in the series exists in the calculation of the turnover of alcopops, measured as litres pure alcohol, from 2003 when alcopops became available in grocery stores.

The Customs starts using a new electronic datasystem
In 1998 the Customs started using a new electronic data system. This brought along insufficient basic data and, consequently, no statistics on alcohol sales were published this year.

Transfer to The Norwegian Tax Administration Since the 1st of january 2016 the responsibility for the excise duties was transferred to The Norwegian Tax Administration. The Norwegian Customs continues to have partial responsibility for some duties, mainly for private and unregistered imports.

Registered enterprises that pay excise tax must report excise tax electronically via the Tax Administration rapportingsystem ELSÆR 2.0, cf. tax administration Act §8-4. th taxation period for most excise duties, including duty on alcohol, is a calander month, cf. tha tax administration regulations §8-4-1 third paragraph. The delivery deadline for tax return for alcohol tax is the 18th of the month following the tax assessment period, cf. the tax administration regulations section § 8-4-2 first paragraph.

When excise duty is submited, companies have to state the calculation basis (quantity) themselves and the duty is calculated. This mocel is called the self-determination model. Submitted tax notices can be corrected by taxpayers even up to 3 years back in time by sending a socalled change notice, cf.Tax Administration Act § 9-4 first and second paragraphs. When authorities (The Tax Agency determine taxes and fees, because the taxpayer fails to submit a tax return or because the Tax agency`s checks reveal errors, it is called an official determination. As a general rule, the tax authorities can take up the tax assessment for changes for five years after the end of the tax assessment period, see the Tax Admninistration Act section 12-6 first paragraph. If it applies to serious tax evasion, the deadline is ten years, see §12-6 second paragraph.

The Tax Administration carry out ongoing checks of those liable to excise duty`s self-determined notifications, based on the agency`s risk assessments.

As previously mentioned, the registered taxpayers must submit excise duty periodically. If the excise duty is not submitted within the deadline, the liable entity will be reminded of there duty. Companies that still do not reply have to pay penalty interest on the tax claim. It will also not be possible for the company to submit next month excise duty before all previous month are submitted. In the extreme failure to deliver an excise duty will lead to de-registration, which means that the business has to discontinue its alcohol production and/or importation. It is a rare occurance that a company does not send in a tax declaration, but can happen in connection with for example bankruptcy. In these cases, the company will be deregistered and the trustee will take over responsibility for any final reporting.

On the basis of the Tax Administration Act §9-4 first and second paragraphs and the Tax administration Act §12-6 first paragraph, there may be changes to the submitted excise duty back in time. Statistics Norway receives the report approximatly two months after the reporting deadline, so changes may accure after the report has been delivered. The above mentioned corrections in tax data are not included in Statistics Norway's statistics on alcohol sales after the receipt date.