Excise warehouses need written deals with third-party goods owners

Approved excise warehousekeepers that store third-party goods under a duty suspension arrangement should have a written commercial agreement in place with the owner of the goods.GOV The agreement should require the owner to notify the warehousekeeper if ownership of the goods changes while the goods remain in the warehouse.GOV Where the goods are sold, the warehousekeeper should put a similar agreement in place with the new owner.

The notification duties run both ways on a sale. Before making any sale, the current owner of duty-suspended goods held in a warehouse should inform the warehousekeeper that the goods are to be sold and give details of who the new owner will be. In addition, the buyer should inform the warehousekeeper that the goods are to be purchased and provide its business details to the warehousekeeper.

HMRC will not take action in respect of incorrect ownership records held by a warehousekeeper where four conditions are all met. First, the warehousekeeper has a written commercial agreement in place requiring the owner to notify it of any change in ownership. Second, the owner fails to notify the warehousekeeper that the goods have been sold and to identify the new owner. Third, the warehousekeeper can reasonably demonstrate that it could not have known that ownership had changed. Fourth, the warehousekeeper has not taken any steps to release the goods to anyone other than the owner recorded in its records.GOV

There is a dedicated rule for shared products. A business may organise the sale of shares in a warehoused product, for example a cask or barrel maturing in warehouse, and maintain contact with the warehousekeeper on behalf of the shareholders. In these circumstances the warehousekeeper may treat the business as the proprietor of the shared product for record-keeping purposes. The business that organises the share sales should keep a complete record of the shareholders, including the name and address of each shareholder.

On duty deferment, a W5D or W6D warrant can only be submitted where the deferment account being used is linked to a GB EORI number.GOV This is because the ATWD service is unable to accept a deferment account linked to an XI EORI number. Warehousekeepers and agents deferring excise duty on removals to home use therefore need a GB EORI-linked deferment account before attempting to file either warrant.

Record-keeping duties for warehouse occupiers and goods proprietors are set by regulations 21 to 23 of The Excise Warehousing (Etc.) Regulations 1988, which the notice lists in section 18 among the detailed requirements behind its contents.