Canada's federal government has extended for a further two years both the 2% inflation cap on excise duties applied to beer, spirits, and wine and the reduced duty rate for domestically brewed beer, continuing relief measures originally introduced in 2023 to ease the tax burden on small businesses in the alcohol sector.
Canada’s federal government announced on 1 April 2026 an additional two-year extension of the 2% cap on the annual alcohol excise duty inflation adjustment, and of the 50% reduction on excise duty rates for the first 15,000 hectolitres of beer brewed in Canada, effective 1 April 2026.
In Budget 2023, the government announced a temporary cap on the inflation adjustment for excise duties on beer, spirits, and wine at 2%, for one year, as of 1 April 2023. The government first implemented the cap to provide tax relief for small businesses, given that the Excise Act and the Excise Act, 2001 require alcohol excise duties to be automatically indexed to total Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation at the beginning of each fiscal year (i.e., on 1 April).
On 9 March 2024, the government announced that this cap would be extended for an additional two years (2024-25 and 2025-26).
The 2% cap on the inflation adjustment for excise duties on beer, spirits, and wine would be extended for two additional years, starting on 1 April 2026. The proposed capped excise duty rates on all alcoholic beverage products are presented in the table below.
| Rate for Fiscal Year 2025-26 Rate for Fiscal Year 2026-27 | Rate for Fiscal Year 2026-27 (proposed 2% adjustment) | Rate for Fiscal Year 2027-28 (proposed 2% adjustment) | |
| Spirits | CAD 13.840 | CAD 14.117 | CAD 14.399 |
| Wine | CAD 0.730 | CAD 0.745 | CAD 0.760 |
| Beer | CAD 36.95 | CAD 37.69 | CAD 38.44 |
