Exporting Wine from the U.S.

Bonded Wine Premises Proprietors/Exporters of Untaxpaid Wine

• Proprietors of Bonded Wine Premises who wish to be relieved of the excise tax on exported wine must file a Notice under the provisions of 27 CFR 28.122 on TTB Form 5100.11, “Withdrawal of Spirits, Specially Denatured Spirits, or Wines for Exportation”, and follow the instructions as outlined on page 3 of the form.  A copy of this notice, along with acceptable proof of exportation should be sent to TTB’s National Revenue Center (NRC) at the below address within 90 days of the date of withdrawal of the goods.  This process must be completed for each shipment of goods that is exported from the U.S. without payment of tax.

  Director, National Revenue Center
  550 Main St., Ste. 8002
  Cincinnati, OH 45202-5215

Note: TTB no longer requires a signature of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official on TTB forms certifying the export.  However, you must maintain appropriate and acceptable proof of exportation, which may vary depending on the purpose and final destination of the product.  For details on acceptable proof of exportation, please see 27 CFR 28.40-41 and section V of TTB Industry Circular 2004-3.

• An alternative procedure, which allows exporters to maintain export documentation at their premises (rather than submitting them to the National Revenue Center on each occasion), is available.  Exporters must apply for this procedure – approval is neither automatic nor guaranteed.  However, applying for this procedure is highly recommended, as it is intended to streamline the export process by lessening the burden of submission of export documents to the NRC.  Further details on applying for this alternative procedure (as well as a sample letterhead request) are included in TTB Industry Circular 2004-3.  Please note the conditions for this variance (including a monthly electronic submission of an Export Log) as listed in section IV of this circular.  A set of FAQs is also available for this circular.
• Please note that all untaxpaid export shipments should be shown as ‘Exported’ on TTB F 5120.17, “Report of Wine Premises Operations” - not as ‘Transferred in Bond’.  Untaxpaid bottled wine exports are shown in Section B, Line 12, while entries for untaxpaid bulk wine exports are to be shown on one of the blank lines 24-28 of Section A of the report form.
• Any applicable tax should be paid on the exported shipment if acceptable proof of exportation is not obtained within 90 days.
• For information on other export certificates that may be required for exports to certain countries (e.g. Certificate of Free Sale, VI1 forms, etc.), please click here.