Beer ISC will rise S/0.10 in March and July

Yesterday the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) confirmed that the modification of the selective consumption tax (ISC) for beer will be applied gradually. From the current S/2.31 it will go to S/2.41 in March and S/2.51 in July, that is, it will rise S/0.10 in each section, according to Supreme Decree No. 014-2024-EF.

The new head of the MEF, José Arista Arbildo, pointed out that the update of this tax will not affect the recovery of the economy. He explained that it has not been updated for two years, so the fixed amounts of the ISC have lost value as a result of inflation. “The update is necessary to recover the tax burden lost due to the increase in prices of the affected products”he claimed.

In addition to its collection function, the entity remembers that the ISC plays a dissuasive role in consumer behavior, applying a fixed amount in soles for each unit of product. This amount is updated annually if the price of the product experiences a variation of more than 1% compared to the previous year.

In Phase Consultores analysis, the increase in the ISC will not drastically modify beer consumption, so the revenue for this product would increase by around S/360 million (0.036% of the GDP), which they consider to be an “irrelevant” amount to combat the drop in collection recorded at the end of 2023, since it reached S/147,246 million, 12.3% less than the previous year.

Demands were heard

On January 31, the fixed amounts for the ISC applicable to cigarettes, reheated tobacco and alcoholic beverages were updated through Ministerial Resolution No. 030-2024-EF/15.

The brewing and winery unions did not take long to show their rejection of the measure. They argued that it would have a negative impact on their economic recovery after a year in which the economy fell 0.55%, and taking into account that beer accounts for 30% of the wineries’ total sales and that summer is the season in which that the consumption of this product increases the most.

“We regret that the MEF has decided to increase the Selective Consumption Tax in a comprehensive manner. “Which harms sales in this summer campaign, which we hoped to recover from the constant crises that we have been going through,” the Peruvian Winery Association (ABP) said in a previous statement.

Along these lines, the Lima Chamber of Commerce (CCL) indicated that the fixed amounts for the ISC applied to alcoholic beverages, beers and cigarettes that are sold in wineries could reduce the sales of these businesses by 4.5%. .

For this moment, Alex Contreras MirandHe still led the MEF and in the face of discontent, he specified that the application of this increase would be gradual and would be announced through a schedule that would be published in February.

As the days go by and still without clarification of when the ISC would really rise, the Beer Chamber of Peru (CCP) proposed that its application on alcoholic beverages begin in April and the greatest burden of said tax be deferred until the last quarter of the year.

With the arrival of Arista to the MEF, it was clarified that after a dialogue between actors in the sector and the former Minister Contreras It was agreed that only beer would have a gradual increase of S/0.10 in March and July to reach S/2.51 per liter.

For other products, the ISC increase will always be from March 1. In cigarettes, the ISC will go from S/0.36 to S/0.37; heated tobacco products (HTC), from S/0.30 to S/0.31. Meanwhile, the new ISC for pisco will reach S/2.48—after being at S/2.27 for two years.

Drinks with up to 6 degrees of alcohol per liter will now have an ISC of S/1.33; those with 6 to 12 degrees of alcohol per liter, S/2.68; those from 12 to 20 degrees, S/2.89; and those that exceed 20 degrees of alcohol, S/3.97.

The word

José Arista Arbildo – Minister of Economy and Finance

“It should increase 20 cents all at once; but the former minister had a negotiation (with the sector) and they agreed to raise it gradually, first 10 cents and then another 10 cents.”