LithuaniaVMI
Outsourced bottling triggers sweetened-drink excise on dispatch
A producer outsourcing bottling incurs sweetened-drink excise on dispatch to the bottler; the monthly AKC430 return and payment remain due by the 15th of the following month.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 4 September 2026
Industry: Manufacture of soft drinks; production of mineral waters and other bottled waters
A Lithuanian producer that outsources bottling or packing of sweetened drinks incurs excise when it dispatches the drinks for that service, not when it gets the finished product back
VMI. Under the rule now stated in the State Tax Inspectorate's answer, drinks a producer makes itself are treated as manufactured when bottled or packed into retail packaging, with the duty to calculate, declare and pay excise arising at that point; drinks bottled or packed by another business are treated as manufactured when the producer dispatches them for bottling or packing, and dispatch triggers the same dutyVMI.
The charge applies to sweetened non-alcoholic drinks for business use that are received from another Member State, produced in Lithuania, imported, or acquired in Lithuania, where excise has not already been paid (Akcizų įstatymas Article 75(1)). A business receiving drinks from another Member State for business purposes or producing them in Lithuania must register as a sweetened-drinks excise payer (Article 75(4)). Unpackaged drinks a catering establishment makes are exempt, but packaged ones it makes are not (Article 77(1)(5)).
The manufacturer is the person that physically makes the drink, whether it bottles the drink itself or dispatches it to a bottler. A business whose details appear on the packaging but which only sells the finished product, for example under a private-label or contract-manufacturing arrangement, is not the manufacturer by virtue of being named on the label. Diluting concentrates with water or another liquid to prepare a drink is not manufacturing.
The tax period is a calendar month. A producer whose obligation arises on the domestic-production ground declares the excise in form AKC430 and pays it by the 15th day of the following month (Article 79(1)). The dispatch date fixes which month's return the excise belongs to; the 15th-day deadline fixes when that return and payment are due.
Legal basis: Akcizų įstatymas Articles 75, 76, 77 and 79.
If you outsource bottling or packing, treat dispatch to the bottler as the excise point: register as a sweetened-drinks excise payer where required and report the excise in the AKC430 return for the dispatch month, payable by the 15th of the next month.