Good news for the cider industry with today’s passage of the CIDER Act. The CIDER Act provides a much needed update to the tax and regulatory framework cider. To date, the regulatory framework and tax structure for cider has been known to cause cider makers angst given how cider is characterized under the law. Now, ciders with up to 8.5 percent alcohol will fall in the definition of “hard cider” and be regulated as such instead of being subject to the Tax and Trade Bureau’s wine labeling and packaging requirements. In addition, the law lessens the tax burden on cider makers by expanding the definition of hard cider to include higher alcohol content ciders and by increasing the amount of carbonation allowed in hard cider before it is taxed at a higher rate that applies to champagne.
For more on the reaction of the cider industry, see http://www.nwcider.com/news/2015/3/6/press-release-passage-of-cider-act-in-senate-finance-committee.