Responsibilities of excise warehousekeepers, owners of goods and duty representatives
Find out about checks you need to carry out before accepting goods into your excise warehouse and your obligations when receiving cash payments for duty-suspended sales of alcohol products.
Accepting goods into a warehouse
If you’re an excise warehousekeeper, before you accept goods into your warehouse, you must make sure that:
- the owner of the goods is a registered owner of excise goods if the goods are to remain in warehouse longer than the initial period of 72 hours
- if the depositor is an overseas owner, they have appointed a duty representative
All owners of duty-suspended excise goods must be approved and registered with HMRC, unless:
- the goods belong to the authorised excise warehousekeeper of that warehouse
- the owner of the excise goods is not a revenue trader
- the excise goods are UK duty paid tobacco products or mineral oils for warehousing for export under excise goods drawback regulations
- the excise goods are wine or made-wine
- the excise goods are hydrocarbon oils, bioethanol or special energy products
- you are a non-UK based owner and have appointed a duty representative to act on your behalf
Excise goods on which duty has not been paid must not be:
- sold whilst they are being kept in an excise warehouse unless the seller, or if the seller has a duty representative gives notice of the sale to the authorised warehousekeeper
- kept in an excise warehouse for more than a 72 hour period, excluding a Saturday, Sunday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day, Good Friday or Easter Monday beginning with their deposit in that warehouse unless the owner of those goods:
- is not a revenue trader
- is the authorised warehousekeeper
- is a registered owner
- has a duty representative acting as his agent in respect of those goods
Where the 72 hour period applies, those goods may only be removed from the warehouse on payment of UK duty. Where the goods do not qualify to be retained in the warehouse at the end of the 72 hour period the authorised warehousekeeper becomes liable for the duty on the goods.
The authorised warehousekeeper is not liable to pay duty if immediately following the 72 hour period they abandon those goods to HMRC. Where they do so, the person liable for the duty becomes the owner of the goods at that time.
Check registration certificates
Registered excise owners and duty representatives must produce their registration certificates to the authorised excise warehousekeeper. The certificates will contain details of any conditions imposed by HMRC.
If an excise warehousekeeper supplies us with the name and registration number on the certificate we’ll confirm whether or not a registration is valid.
We’ll not give out any information about conditions or restrictions. However, these details can be seen on your registration certificate.
Report cash payments for alcohol sales
Owners and duty representatives who have been paid, or expect to be paid in cash for alcohol products in duty-suspension exceeding £9,000 (or equivalent in other currencies) must immediately notify HMRC of cash payments for alcohol in duty suspension (W7). Alcohol products are spirits and spirits-based beverages like:
- beer
- wine
- made-wine
- cider and perry
Where duty-suspended alcohol products are transferred to approved excise warehouses in the UK or EU member states, the form Notify HMRC of cash payments for alcohol in duty suspension (W7) must be submitted before the goods are removed from the dispatching warehouse.
Sometimes customers pay cash in 2 or more instalments which individually are below the £9,000 notification threshold, but the total sale will exceed this amount. In these circumstances owners and duty representatives must notify HMRC on form Notify HMRC of cash payments for alcohol in duty suspension (W7) when the first cash payment is received.
If you do not notify these type of transactions to HMRC you may receive a financial penalty. Persistent failure will result in the withdrawal of the registered owner’s or duty representative’s approval.
Responsibility to pay duty
The following is a summary of the main duty points:
| Circumstances | Duty point | Liability of warehousekeeper |
|---|---|---|
| A warehousekeeper accepts goods contrary to any conditions shown on his certificate of registration or approval letter. | Time of deposit | Sole |
| Goods remain in a warehouse after the authorisation ceases. | Time when authorisation ceases | Sole |
| A warehousekeeper accepts goods but does not see the required certificate of registration. During the initial period he removes they goods to a purpose other than home use. | Time of deposit | Sole |
| A warehousekeeper accepts goods but does not see the certificate of registration within the intial period. | Time of deposit | Sole The warehousekeeper may immediately abandon the goods to the Commissioners - further information in Notice 197. |
| Goods are in a warehouse and owned by a revenue trader (other than the warehousekeeper) but there’s no longer a registered owner or duty representative ifor those goods. | Time when registration of owner or duty representative ceases | Joint and several with the owner or duty representative. The warehousekeeper may immediately abandon the goods to the Commissioners - further information in Notice 197. |
| An owner (this includes an authorised warehousekeeper) sells goods in warehouse. The new owner is a revenue trader but not registered with HMRC. | Time of sale | Joint and several with the seller and the buyer. The warehousekeeper may immediately abandon the goods to the Commissioners and will no longer have joint and several duty liability - further information in Notice 197. |