CH91550 - Penalties for VAT and Excise Wrongdoing: In what circumstances is a penalty payable: Handling goods subject to unpaid excise duty
Excise duty must be paid on goods at the excise duty point unless the duty has been deferred.
A penalty is payable by a person if
- the person handles goods that are subject to excise duty, and
- at the time the person handles the goods the excise duty has not been paid or deferred.
Handling goods means
- acquiring possession of them
- being involved in the carrying, removing, depositing or keeping of them, or
- otherwise dealing with them.
A person is not liable to a penalty if they have a reasonable excuse, see CH92000, for non-deliberately handling the goods with unpaid excise duty.
For examples see CH91600.