The 2022 Iowa General Assembly enacted and Governor Reynolds signed Senate File 2378, a bill that made changes to Iowa’s beverage container deposit and redemption law, commonly known as the “bottle bill.” SF 2378 creates a new reimbursement for beer distributors which pay handling fees for empty beer containers to entities that collect those containers. This new reimbursement to beer distributors will be administered by the Iowa Department of Revenue.

A beer distributor will be allowed to request a one-cent reimbursement for every beer container sold by that distributor for which the distributor paid a handling fee to a redemption center, dealer agent, or participating dealer. This new reimbursement applies to containers for which the beer distributor pays the entity accepting the empty container on or after January 1, 2023. Beer distributors must have a GovConnectIowa account and the appropriate license from the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division in order to file the reimbursement claim.

The Department will process reimbursement requests on a quarterly basis. Beer distributors will be able to request reimbursements beginning April 1, 2023. The first tax period for which a beer distributor will be able to request a reimbursement will be January 1 through March 31, 2023. Beer distributors will be able to request reimbursements for multiple quarters in a single claim, but only one claim can include each quarterly period. Beer distributors will need to input the start and end date for the period covered by their claim as well as the number of containers for which they are requesting reimbursement. Beer distributors may upload supporting documentation, but are not required to do so. The Department will mail paper checks to beer distributors.

A beer distributor who plans to request reimbursements should create a GovConnectIowa account today if the beer distributor does not already have one. Beer distributors must be logged into their GovConnectIowa account to request the reimbursement. There will not be a paper form to request the reimbursement. On and after April 1, once a beer distributor is logged into GovConnectIowa, the link to the reimbursement claim will appear in the “Refunds” panel on the “I Want To…” tab.

Beer distributors with additional questions about this new process should contact the Department at 515-281-3114 or idr@iowa.gov.