Games Workshop’s tariffs are going up, not down, as the company won a Supreme Court refund but still expects a bigger £13 million bill next year.
Games Workshop says it got £7.8 million in US tariffs back after the recent Supreme Court ruling went its way. That’s about $10.5 million using the exchange rate in the report, based on conversions.
From their annual report, it sounds like GW escaped the tariff mess overall, but the very same report also says the company expects roughly £13 million in new US tariffs next year. So as long as the plastic still comes out of Nottingham, and a huge part of GW’s customer base is still in the US, the tariff problem will keep getting more and more expensive.
- The take: GW won a £7.8m Supreme Court tariff refund, but it still expects a bigger bill next year.
- The numbers: roughly £12m paid in FY26, £7.8m reclaimed, only £1.0m received by year-end, a net hit near £4m, and about £13m forecast for 2026/27.
- What it means: tariffs are becoming a regular, rising cost while GW already increases prices by about 3% a year.
The Refund is Real, But Most of the Money Landed Late
GW reclaimed the IEEPA “reciprocal” tariffs it had paid through February 2026 and recorded the full £7.8 million in this year’s accounts.
However, only £1.0 million had actually arrived by the 31 May year-end. The remaining £6.8 million came afterward and was listed as a receivable, so most of the refund was promised rather than banked when the financial year closed.
That fits the pattern from GW’s blockbuster profit year, where the headline number looks better than the details underneath it, and is pretty similar to previous years.
The tariff refund breaks down like this:
- Paid in FY26: around £12 million in new US tariffs.
- Reclaimed: £7.8 million in IEEPA reciprocal tariffs paid through February 2026.
- Received in-year: just £1.0 million.
- Owed after year-end: £6.8 million, still to be refunded.
The Real Tariff Cost This Year Was About £4 Million
Subtract the £7.8 million reclaim from the roughly £12 million GW paid, and the net tariff cost lands near £4 million.
That didn’t seriously hurt a company earning GW-level profits, but tariffs still knocked 0.7 percentage points off core gross margin. Margin rose to 71.1% because better efficiency and higher sales volume covered the tariff drag. Either way, if you’ve read the breakdown of how much GW marks up its products, you know the company has room to absorb costs like this.
The Section 122 tariffs introduced from February 2026 weren’t covered by the refund, though. They went straight against gross margin and aren’t coming back. GW recovered one batch of tariffs while paying another, which complicates any comparison of Warhammer pricing against inflation unless you use just straight retail pricing.
Next Year’s Bill Is Bigger Than the One GW Just Fought
GW now estimates it will face about £13 million in new US tariffs during 2026/27 as tariff legislation continues to change.
That’s higher than the roughly £12 million in gross tariffs it paid this year.
Using the report’s rough exchange rate, £13 million works out to somewhere near $17.5 million total. That’s our conversion, not a figure published by GW, but the cost is rising either way, and there may not be much they can do about it.
GW is Treating Tariffs Like The Cost of Doing Business They Are.
Interestingly, the report states: “Unlike some companies, we do not consider tariffs as an exceptional item, but rather part of the uncertainty of operating globally.” Simply put, GW isn’t treating tariffs as a temporary charge. It’s building them into the regular cost of doing business, much like shipping or utilities.
The CEO summed up the year with: “I thought this would be drama-free; how wrong I was.”
GW generally doesn’t just eat costs for the consumer, and it obviously factors into the real logic behind GW pricing. GW raises its recommended retail prices by about 3% on average each year, and we expect it to continue. Sadly, a permanent tariff cost gives that pattern another reason to continue in 2026 as well.
GW absorbed this year’s net tariff hit and still improved its margin, so it hasn’t directly blamed a price increase on tariffs. Still, a £13 million annual cost either comes out of margin or eventually reaches the shelf. That’s why hobbyists are already looking at smart ways to beat the price surge.
Final Thoughts on Games Workshop Tariffs
The refund is real, and GW successfully got its money back. The bigger story is that tariffs have become a normal, rising cost of selling into the company’s biggest market.
Next year’s forecast is already higher than what GW paid this year, and it could rise again if US trade policy keeps changing.
For hobbyists, the £13 million forecast is more important than the £7.8 million refund becasue that can easily get added to GW’s usual 3-5% annual pricing increase, eventually showing up on the shelf.
So, keep an eye on the next wave of price changes, because that’s when a line in an annual report can very much become the reason your next box costs more.
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Do you think GW’s rising tariff bill lands on the shelf as another price hike, or will they keep absorbing it?
