At this time of year, gym memberships soar, subscriptions to healthy recipe apps fly off the digital shelves, and personal finances are scrutinized to better manage household budgets. All of these are in service to New Year’s Resolutions people make to improve their lives.
The New Year is also an excellent time for members of the alcohol industry to [re]evaluate their compliance with state and federal reporting, tax, permit/license, label and formulation, brand registration, trade practice, and similar requirements. Is your business up to date with all required TTB and the state reports and returns? Have you correctly calculated excise tax rates? Have any organizational changes within your business triggered a reporting requirement to regulators? Have you updated any labels or formulas that need to be approved by TTB and state ABCs? Have you expanded your premises, equipment, or operations? Many of these things require updates with federal and state agencies.
For example, under federal regulations, if your company has a change in proprietorship (where a new person or entity owns and operates the business), that new person or entity must apply for its own permit(s), registration(s), or notice(s) within 30 days of the change in proprietorship to continue to operate under the outgoing proprietor’s permits, and must receive TTB approval before certain (generally production, processing, and bottling) operations continue until TTB approves the new applications. Additionally, if your company has undergone an actual or legal change in control (where a new person or entity owns or manages the entity that operates the business), the entity must inform TTB within 30 days of that change, or the entity’s permit(s), registration(s), and notice(s) will automatically terminate as a matter of law. Such a termination could result in heavy tax liability and a requirement to resubmit all licensing applications, as well as obtain new formula and label approvals.
It’s prudent to ask yourself whether any of these or similar changes have occurred or will occur, so that you can take the necessary steps to ensure compliance. If you find that inadvertent mistakes have been made, or if you are concerned that you may be out of compliance with applicable rules, hiring an experienced firm such as Lehrman Beverage Law may help bring you into compliance and lessen any financial or regulatory fallout from non-compliance. We routinely handle TTB compliance and enforcement matters of the type set out above.
In addition to that new gym membership, resolve to ensure that your compliance strength is taken care of so your business can thrive in 2025.
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