Consultation outcome

Alcohol fraud: next steps

• From: HM Revenue & Customs and The Rt Hon Sajid Javid
• Published: 19 August 2013
• Last updated: 16 January 2014 — See all updates

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

This consultation has concluded

Read the full outcome

Alcohol fraud next steps summary of responses

PDF, 182 KB, 30 pages

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Detail of outcome

The Government announced at Autumn Statement 2013 it would go ahead with wholesaler registration and due diligence. The consultation confirmed that there continues to be broad support for the concept of alcohol wholesaler registration across industry, which generally believes that better regulation of this sector is necessary to safeguard against the risk of penetration by fraud.

However, some sectors had specific concerns around the perceived burdens of some of the detail of the scheme and discussed these with HMRC during the consultation. As a result, HMRC has modified some aspects of the proposed policy design of the scheme to address the most significant of the concerns raised regarding administrative costs, and will continue to work with all stakeholders as work on legislation develops. There was broad support for due diligence although some respondents wanted reassurance that requirements would not be excessive. HMRC will seek to address these concerns during implementation.

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Original consultation

Summary

This consultation provides further details and seeks views on the next steps the Government plans to take to tackle existing and emerging threats to the UK alcohol duty regime.

This consultation ran from
19 August 2013 to 11:45pm on 4 November 2013

Consultation description

Alcohol duty fraud is damaging the legitimate UK alcohol industry, resulting in losses of approximately £1.2 billion a year to the UK taxpayer. The Government consulted on measures to tackle existing and emerging threats to alcohol duty receipts in 2012.

The Government issued a summary of responses to its 2012 consultation on 17 July 2013 and announced its conclusions and next steps. This consultation explores those next steps further, seeking the views of stakeholders.

This consultation is relevant to all trade representatives, businesses and individuals with an interest in the alcoholic drinks trade, including those who are currently approved by HMRC to produce, hold or move excise goods and those who trade wholesale or retail within the UK. It covers:

• policy and enforcement changes HMRC intends to make to increase its impact on alcohol fraud
• the operation of a scheme to register alcohol wholesalers
• new obligations on registered excise traders to undertake effective due diligence on their supply chains.

Documents

Alcohol fraud: next steps

PDF, 219 KB, 38 pages

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Published 19 August 2013
Last updated 16 January 2014 + show all updates

1. 16 January 2014

   Publication of response document

2. 28 October 2013

   Extended date for the end of the consultation from 28 October 2013 to 4 November 2013.

3. 19 August 2013

   First published.