Telangana’s new Excise Policy: Wine dealers urge consolidation of levies, higher purchase limits

The Telangana Wine Dealers Association submitted six recommendations to simplify liquor tax calculations, allow A4 licence transfers, increase permit room sizes, exempt hospital-adjacent outlets, extend licence periods, and raise purchase limits, ahead of the State’s new Excise Policy

Hyderabad: With the State government working on introducing a new Excise Policy, the Telangana Wine Dealers Association has made six recommendations, including consolidation of various levies into issue price and others.

In a letter to the Excise Minister on Thursday, the Association said the purchase invoice of liquor stocks at present was complicated. After adding special excise tax, retail excise tax and rounding up to the issue price, Tax Collected at Source (TCS) was further added.

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To simplify the calculation, barring the retail excise tax and TCS, the other levies could be merged and the same can be included in the issue price. This would encourage retailers to accurately disclose their purchase costs during income tax filings, they said.

Unlike the Bar Licence, the present Excise Act prohibits the transfer of A4 Licence (Retail Licence). If the department permits complete transfer, it would facilitate more people to join the business, the Association felt.

The Association also appealed to the government to exempt establishment of liquor outlets near hospitals. The clause, which mandates setting up of liquor outlets far from educational institutions and religious places in GHMC limits was justified but the distance rule being applied to hospitals does not impact the functioning or affects the patients.

The Association wanted the government to increase the permit room size from the current 100 square metres to 200 square metres.

Under the current Excise Year, which extends from December to November, most licence holders end up filing income tax returns for three different business periods, including the period ending March for the previous year, April to November for the current year and then subsequently from December to March.

The Association also asked the department to consider extending the current licence period to March 2026. Eventually, it could be synchronised with the new licence period with the new financial year.

Stating that the Retail Excise Tax was being imposed on the retail purchases once the purchase limits crossed “10 times” of the licence tax, the wine dealers urged that with increasing operational and maintenance costs and huge investments involved, the department may increase the purchase limits to “14 times” of the licence tax.