Alcohol licence fees

What you need to pay

You need to pay an application fee and an annual fee for an on-licence, off-licence and club licence. The amount you pay depends on the type of business you run and the risk involved.

You pay an application fee when you apply for a new licence, or renew or make a change to an existing licence. The application fee is calculated based on:

the type of business you have (for example, a restaurant, tavern or hotel)
your operating hours
the number of enforcements you've had in the past 18 months.

The annual fee has to be paid:

before a new licence is issued
each year by the anniversary of the licence issue date.

A portion of these fees is paid to the Alcohol Regulatory & Licensing Authority (ARLA).

Please note: The Council’s Pandemic Response Plan fee changes between March 2022 to February 2023 has ended.

If you would like to get in touch with someone from our team, please contact alcoholfees@wcc.govt.nz

Working out what you pay

Calculate your alcohol licence fees

Use our calculator to work out your risk category and what you will need to pay when you apply for an on-licence, off-licence or club licence.

Risk category	Application fee (including GST)	Annual fee (including GST)	Total
Very low	$486.00	$213.00	$699.00
Low	$805.00	$516.00	$1,321.00
Medium	$1078.00	$835.00	$1,913.00
High	$2,351.00	$2,366.00	$4,717.00
Very high	$3,594.00	$3,898.00	$7,492.00

See how the fees are calculated

The category your business is in determines the price you pay for your application and annual fee. Add up the 'weighting' score to see which fee category you fit into.

Step 1: Find your business

Type of business	Weighting
Bottle store Supermarket Grocery store Nightclub Tavern (a business used mainly for providing alcohol and other refreshments, rather than for serving meals) Adult premises 'Class 1' restaurant (a restaurant with a separate bar area that may be used as a tavern at least one night a week)	15
Off-licence in a tavern or hotel Hotel Function centre 'Class 1' club (a club that has more than 1,000 members who are over 18, and can operate like a tavern) 'Class 2' restaurant (a restaurant that has a small separate bar area, but never operates like a tavern)	10
Remote sales 'Class 2' club (clubs that don't fit into class 1 or 3, for example a large sports club) 'Class 3' restaurant (a restaurant with no separate bar, where alcohol is only served to the table) A licensed club with an off-licence Other (for example, caterers or universities)	5
Theatre Cinema Wine cellar door BYO restaurant 'Class 3' club (a club with fewer than 250 members who are over 18, that operates a bar less than 40 hours a week – for example, a bowling, golf or bridge club)	2

Step 2: Add your operating times

Latest time you plan to sell alcohol	Weighting
On-licences and clubs before 2.01am Off-licences before 10.01pm Remote sales premises (at any time)	0
On-licences and clubs 2.01am-3.01am Off-licences 10.01pm and later	3
On-licences and clubs – all other closing times	5

Example: if you own a nightclub (weighting: 15) and want to sell alcohol till 3am (weighting: 3), your total score is 18.

Step 3: Add the number of enforcements you've had

Number of enforcements in the last 18 months	Weighting
None	0
1	10
2 or more	20

Step 4: What you pay

Add up all your weighting scores to find the fees for your risk category.

Score	Risk category	Application fee (including GST)	Annual fee (including GST)	Total
0-2	Very low	$486.00	$18.25 ($1 + $17.25 ARLA fee)	$504.25
3-5	Low	$805.00	$35.50 ($1 + $34.50 ARLA fee)	$840.50
6-15	Medium	$1078.00	$52.75 ($1 + $51.75 ARLA fee)	$1,130.75
16-25	High	$2,351.00	$87.25 ($1 + $86.25 ARLA fee)	$2,438.25
26 - plus	Very high	$3,594.00	$173.50 ($1 + 172.50 ARLA fee)	$3,767.50

Example: if you own a bottle store (weighting: 15) and it closes at 11pm (weighting: 3) and you've had two enforcements in the last 18 months (weighting: 20), your overall risk score of 38 would put you in the 'very high' category.

Special licence and temporary authority fees

The fees for special licences and temporary authorities are different.

Applying for a special alcohol licence for an event

Taking over an alcohol licence (temporary authority)

Need help?

You can meet with an alcohol licensing inspector for free. They're available Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.

Alcohol Licensing
Phone: 04 801 3760
Email: AlcoholApplications@wcc.govt.nz

Meet with an alcohol licensing inspector

Alcohol licence fees

What you need to pay

Working out what you pay

Step 1: Find your business

Step 2: Add your operating times

Step 3: Add the number of enforcements you've had

Step 4: What you pay

Special licence and temporary authority fees

Need help?

Report a problem or make a request

Email us

Phone us

Send us mail

Visit our Service Centre

Visit our head office

What you need to pay

Working out what you pay

Step 1: Find your business

Step 2: Add your operating times

Step 3: Add the number of enforcements you've had

Step 4: What you pay

Special licence and temporary authority fees

Need help?

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