Brewers Association: 4.1% of 2025 Dues Attributable to Lobbying

The Brewers Association notified members that 4.1% of membership dues for tax year 2025 are attributable to lobbying activities and therefore cannot be claimed as a business expense on members’ 2025 federal tax returns. The association’s member notice included the line, “Short notice for BA members: the percentage of membership dues attributable to lobbying activities for tax-year 2025 is 4.1%.” A site snippet from the Brewers Association clarified: “For 2025, the percentage of non-deductible dues pertaining to your tax return is 4.1%. This non-deductible percentage represents the amount that cannot be claimed as a business expense by Brewers Association members on their 2025 tax returns.”

The disclosure follows the rules set out under federal tax law for organizations that engage in lobbying. As CraftBrewingBusiness summarized, “Section 162(e) of ‘The Code’ defines lobbying, and it also notes that tax-exempt organizations either have to pay a proxy tax on lobbying expenditures or inform their members that a portion of their membership dues are non-deductible as a result of those expenditures.” CraftBrewingBusiness also reported that BA mailed a letter to brewery members about the nondeductible percentage.

Scale and context for that 4.1% figure are visible in public lobbying records. OpenSecrets lists “Total Lobbying Expenditures, 2024” for Brewers Assn as $100,017, and notes that its figures are calculated from filings with the Senate Office of Public Records, with the most recent year’s data downloaded on Jan 23, 2026. CraftBrewingBusiness additionally noted that “Last year, the Brewers Association did lobbing efforts that were mostly focused on educating elected federal representatives and senators and their staffs on the merits of excise tax recalibration bills H.R. 2903 and S. 1562,” and included the editorial line “Both damn good bills.” These items underline that BA’s advocacy has targeted federal excise tax policy in recent cycles.

Members who track dues and tax reporting can also compare the current notice to past examples BA has provided. CraftBrewingBusiness reproduced a BA-site example that read, “Your dues payment as a business expense for the year 2016 will be limited by the percentage of dues that went towards supporting lobbying activities, and only the remaining portion of your dues can be claimed as an expense on your federal tax return. For 2016, the percentage of non-deductible dues pertaining to your tax return is 11.7.” That example signals variability in nondeductible percentages over time.

For operational and communications context, Ann Obenchain remains the Brewers Association’s vice president of marketing and communications and serves as spokesperson for BA events. The association is also active on the events front: the Great American Beer Festival will be held at Denver’s Levitt Pavilion in 2026, part of BA’s broader calendar of member-facing activities.

Verify the full text of BA’s member letter and consult your tax advisor before filing. Members who want specifics on how the 4.1% was calculated or whether BA paid a proxy tax should contact the Brewers Association for the full accounting and, if needed, cross-check lobbying filings cited by OpenSecrets.