GENERAL ALCOHOL
G1: Can I produce beer, wine or spirits for my personal or family use without paying Federal excise tax and filing Federal paperwork?Beer
Production.
Removal of beer.Wine
Wine for personal or family use.Spirits
You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.Spirits may be produced for nonbeverage purposes for fuel use only without payment of tax, but you also must file an application, receive ATF's approval, and follow requirements, such as construction, use, records and reports.
G2: What are the Federal and State excise taxes imposed on alcohol (spirits, wine or beer)?
FEDERAL EXCISE TAX
Please note that this does not include Custom duties that may be imposed.
STATE EXCISE TAX
We cannot guarantee that this information is accurate or has been updated. Check with the appropriate State agency to make sure that you are calculating taxes correctly.
G3: Who can I contact when I have a complaint or suspect illegal activity by a bar, club, liquor store, restaurant or other business selling alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine or beer)?
With the exception of labeling, advertising and containers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms does not enforce laws about selling or serving spirits, wine or beer to consumers. Usually, State governments regulate persons selling or serving spirits, wine or beer to consumers. This includes the minimum legal age that a person may sell or serve. Most States have commissions or agencies which oversee persons and businesses that sell or serve alcoholic beverages. Contact the appropriate State agency for help in these areas. Also, visit the Department of Transportation web site about restricting certain funds if a State allows the purchase or public possession of alcoholic beverages under the age of 21.
ACTIVITIES NOT RELATED TO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES (spirits, wine or beer) - If you have information about illegal activities that do not involve alcoholic beverages (for example, drug sales or prostitution), report this information to the appropriate law enforcement agency. If you have information about illegal activities involving firearms, explosives, arson, or tobacco products, report this information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
LABELING, ADVERTISING OR CONTAINERS OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES (spirits, wine or beer) - Report this information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms by e-mail, telephone or writing to:Chief, Alcohol and Tobacco Programs Division,
ATF
650 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20226.
TRADE PRACTICES BETWEEN BUSINESSES SELLING OR PURCHASING ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES (spirits, wine or beer) - Report this information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms by e-mail, telephone or writing to:Chief, Alcohol and Tobacco Programs Division,
ATF
650 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20226
G4: What must I do if I want to start a business that sells or imports alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine or beer)?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms requires retailers of alcoholic beverages to register, pay special tax and maintain certain records.Wholesalers and importers of alcoholic beverages must also register, pay special tax and maintain certain records. In addition, wholesalers and importers must obtain a permit and follow more requirements.
If you would like the ATF forms and additional information to retail, wholesale or import alcoholic beverages, contact the National Revenue Center, 550 Main St., Cincinnati, OH 45202-3263, by calling 1-800-398-2282 or by e-mail at natlrevctr@CINC.ATF.TREAS.GOV.
There are state agencies that have separate requirements for the sale of alcoholic beverages. In addition, certain states restrict who may bring in alcoholic beverages into their jurisdictions and require permits or licenses to sell and transport alcoholic beverages. A list of these agencies is available from this web site.
G5: What is required to sell alcoholic beverages (spirits, wine or beer) on the Internet?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has issued a Ruling concerning direct shipments and sales that includes sales transacted on the Internet. You are still subject to the same ATF requirements for selling spirits, wine or beer. In addition, you also need to contact the appropriate state government agencies where you and your purchaser are located. Ask whether you need licenses or permits, who needs to pay any taxes and what other requirements may apply.
G6: Does ATF have information or studies about the effects of consuming alcohol?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms does not normally conduct studies or maintain information about alcohol consumption because we do not enforce laws or regulations relating to the effects from consuming alcohol. The Bureau has regulations about labeling and advertising and is committed to preventing consumer deception in alcoholic beverages.There are several Federal web site addresses that may beneficial: http://www.whitehouse.gov; http://www.dhhs.gov; http://www.samhsa.gov; http://www.usdoj.gov; http://www.fhwa.dot.gov, and ; http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov.
You can also contact the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 6000 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20892-7003 (301-443-3860).
Also, you may want to contact industry associations that represent alcoholic beverage industries. For example, from the Internet you should be able to reach the Wine Institute, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, and the Beer Institute.
G7: How does ATF inform people of proposed and final changes to the regulations?
Like all Federal agencies, ATF publishes official notices of its actions in the Federal Register, a publication of the Government Printing Office. The Federal Register is published daily, both on paper and online.When you access the Federal Register online, you can search by subject or use their "Browse Feature," to view the Table of Contents of any recent issue. Using either of these means, you can view a document as either a text file or as a PDF file, using Adobe Acrobat. In addition, we place a copy of these documents on the ATF web site shortly after the Federal Register makes the documents available through their web site. When you access a notice of proposed rulemaking on our website, you will have an opportunity to e-mail a comment to us.
As part of publishing a document, the Federal Register places a copy of the manuscript "on file" in their offices the day before it is printed. Membbers of the public may view the document at that time. Call the Federal Register for details. Their number is (202) 523-5240.
G8: Can a business get back the tax money from alcohol or tobacco if the product is destroyed in a disaster such as a fire, earthquake, flood, or tornado?
Under certain circumstances the tax money may be refunded for alcohol and tobacco products. See ATF Information sheet I 1200.68 (8-2000). Go to claim form.
G9: I do not run a bar or liquor store, but sometimes I include alcohol beverages with my product or service. Do I owe Special Occupational Tax (SOT) as a liquor dealer?Maybe. For example, if you:
If you make a separate charge for the alcohol beverage (or if you charge different prices for your product or service with and without the alcohol beverage) you are definitely a liquor dealer and you owe special tax.
If you have any state or local license that authorizes your business to sell alcoholic beverages, your business is subject to SOT.
Even if you do not make a separate charge or have a state or local liquor license, if the complimentary alcohol beverage is always included in the product or service, or if you advertise that your product or service includes a complimentary alcohol beverage, you owe SOT as a dealer. If an alcohol beverage is presented as "complimentary" to clients who pay for particular product or service, we consider the cost as built into the charge for the product or service. If you provide alcohol beverages to most of your customers, but a particular customer declines to accept the alcohol beverage or if certain customers may not be lawfully served, we will still consider you to be engaged in the business of selling or offering alcoholic beverages for sale.
A true complimentary or gift situation, where a business that serves alcohol beverages is not subject to SOT, is likely to be a rare situation.
If you have questions about whether your business owes SOT for distribution of alcohol beverages, contact the ATF National Revenue Center at 1-800-937-8864 or 1-513-684-2979. We will consider the nature of the business, the manner of operation and the advertising of the business to determine if the intent is to "sell" alcohol beverages.
G10: Have you heard about the science fair project or school project where a student builds a homemade still, lets leftover food scraps ferment and turn into alcohol, burns the alcohol in a lantern, and compares the alcohol to other sources of energy?Well, under current law and regulations, we cannot allow you to conduct experiments involving distillation of alcohol at your home.
As an alternative, Federal law allows us to issue a permit for an alcohol fuel plant, or AFP. Under this type of permit, experiments with alcohol fuels can be conducted at locations properly qualified with ATF.
Here's what has to be done:
- An authorized representative of your school (a teacher or other school official) must complete and forward an application form 5110.74 to us to establish a small AFP at your school.
- The experiment must be conducted at your school under appropriate adult supervision.
- The school official must tell us how long the experiment will last. They may allow for additional time in case your experiment is selected for additional competition or display at a regional or area science fair. And,
- The school official must describe the adult supervision that will be provided. We require this because we are concerned about the safety of children handling hazardous materials and using distillation equipment with alcohol-even with adult supervision.
These steps apply primarily to students who are in elementary through high school. Make sure your application is filed as soon as possible to allow enough time for us to process it. You cannot begin the experiment until we issue you a permit.
Application form 5110.74 and additional information are available from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, National Revenue Center, Spirits Unit A, 550 Main Street, Room 8002, Cincinnati, OH 45202-3263, 1-800-398-2282 or (513) 684-7150, natlrevctr@cinc.atf.treas.gov.