Members of the Delegation of a Foreign Country to the United Nations

Advice is requested whether members of the delegation of a foreign country to the United Nations may, as members of a Diplomatic Embassy, obtain fermented liquors from a brewery in the United States free of the internal revenue tax.

Section 3150(a) of the Internal Revenue Code provides in part that there shall be levied and collected a tax (at a current rate) on all fermented liquor containing one-half of 1 percent or more of alcohol, brewed or manufactured and sold, or removed for consumption or sale, within the United States. Section 3150(b) of the Internal Revenue Code provides in part that the tax on such fermented malt liquor shall be paid by the owner, agent, or superintendent of the brewery or premises in which such fermented liquors are made.

The internal revenue tax on fermented malt liquors must be paid by the brewer before removal from the brewery premises for consumption or sale within the United States. The Internal Revenue Code does not provide any exception to this requirement.

The exemption from Federal and local taxes granted to the individual delegates to the United Nations does not entitle them to obtain fermented liquors free of internal revenue tax from a brewery in the United States.

26 U.S.C. 3150 (Internal Revenue of Code of 1939); 26 CFR 192.250 (27 CFR 245.110)