Clarification on WET calculation for online DTC wine sales

 Author: JayATO(Community Support)Community Support

15 Jan 2026

Hi @WineTime,

For your situation, Option B is correct. As a wine manufacturer making retail sales, Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) should be calculated using a notional wholesale value.

When you make retail sales (including direct-to-consumer online sales), WET is calculated at 29% of a notional wholesale selling price, not the actual retail price. For grape wine, you have two methods available:

• the half retail price method – 50% of the retail value (including WET and GST), then multiply by 29%
• the average wholesale price method – only available if at least 10% of your sales by value are wholesale sales of the same vintage and grape varieties.

Since you don't make any wholesale sales to third parties, you must use the half retail price method. This means your WET calculation would be: 50% of $100 (the GST-inclusive retail price) = $50, then $50 × 29% = $14.50. However, the more precise calculation uses the actual price inclusive of WET and GST in the formula.

Using your example of $100 including GST, the calculation works as follows: the notional wholesale value is 50% of $100 = $50, and WET payable is $50 × 29% = $14.50. This effectively gives you 14.5% of the GST-inclusive retail price. When you break down the $100 to show all components, you'd work backwards from the total to identify the WET and GST portions.

You'll report your WET payable at label 1C on your Business Activity Statement (BAS). If you're eligible, you may also be able to claim the WET producer rebate (up to $350,000 per financial year) at label 1D. The rebate is 29% of the taxable value of your eligible domestic sales.

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