Belarus Proposes 50% Higher Tax on Premium Imported Spirits in 2027

Belarus is proposing a higher excise tax on imported premium spirits in 2027, a draft measure that would create a clear tax gap between selected foreign brands and the rest of the alcohol market.

Under the draft fiscal plan, imported alcoholic drinks classified as premium would face an excise rate of 41.85 Belarusian rubles per liter of pure alcohol. Other alcoholic products with an alcohol content of at least 7% would remain at 27.90 Belarusian rubles per liter of pure alcohol. The difference is 13.95 rubles, which means the premium imported category would be taxed 50% more than other comparable alcohol products.

The figures were reported by Reform.news on Oct. 9, based on a draft amendment to Belarus’s Tax Code. The same day, Belarus’s Ministry of Taxes confirmed that the draft includes selective tax changes for 2027, according to the publication. The measure has not been approved, and the list of products covered next year could still change.

If adopted in its current form, the tax would apply to alcoholic drinks from countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union when the imports are not handled under the state monopoly. The products affected would be determined through a list set each year.

The current list used as a reference contains 145 premium imported spirit products. That includes 75 whisky products, 52 cognac products, 17 rum products and one gin product. Brands cited in the current list include Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, The Macallan, Hennessy, Martell, Havana Club and Bacardi.

The structure of the proposal matters because Belarus calculates excise duties for these drinks by the amount of pure alcohol in the product, not by bottle size alone. On that basis, the proposed premium rate would add about 3.91 Belarusian rubles in excise tax to a 700 milliliter bottle at 40% alcohol by volume, compared with the standard rate. That estimate reflects only the excise tax difference and does not include any later effect from value-added tax, distributor margins, retail markups or the final shelf price.

The measure would introduce an explicit tax distinction between premium imported spirits and other alcohol sold in the country. In practical terms, that could make some Western whisky, cognac, rum and gin more expensive than they would be under the standard excise regime. It could also improve the relative position of products from the Eurasian Economic Union, which are outside the scope described in the draft.

Belarus has used annual product lists before, which means the set of affected brands is not fixed permanently in the tax code. The list cited in the reporting applies to 2026 and serves as the current reference point for the proposal. Officials could revise that list for 2027 even if the broader tax approach moves forward.

The proposal comes at a time when Belarus continues to use selective tax and trade rules to shape parts of its consumer market. A higher excise burden on certain imported spirits would not block sales, but it would directly raise the tax cost for covered products before they reach stores. Importers, distributors and retailers would then decide how much of that increase to absorb and how much to pass on to buyers.

Because the official draft document was not fully accessible through automated review, the reported figures were verified through the secondary publication that reproduced them. For now, the plan remains a draft measure, but the numbers published by Reform.news and confirmed in part by the ministry indicate that Belarus is considering a more restrictive tax treatment for a defined group of premium imported spirits starting in 2027.