Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) - reminder and update

We have commented on this AWRS scheme many times before.  The scheme has been introduced by the Government to try and tackle alcohol fraud.  If you sell alcohol to another business, the probability is that you should already have registered under AWRS. The original deadline for registration was 31 March 2016.

However if you failed to do so, the Government is reminding that if the scheme affects you, you must still apply - but that ‘depending on your circumstances you may be charged a penalty for your late application. HMRC may decide to reduce your penalty depending on your circumstances’.

Going forward, from 1 April 2017, if you buy alcohol to sell from a UK wholesaler, you will need to check that whoever you buy from has registered with HMRC and has an AWRS Unique Reference Number (URN). If you buy alcohol from a non-registered wholesaler when they should be approved and registered with HMRC, you may be liable to a criminal or civil penalty and your alcohol may be seized.  Trade buyers will be able to use an online look-up service of approved wholesalers to check that the wholesalers they buy from are registered. This will be available from April 2017.

HMRC is also encouraging operators in the interim to ask your suppliers if they have  applied to HMRC for approval and that if ‘the supplier has not applied, you should encourage them to do so now (!)’.

If you started a new affected wholesaler business after 31 March 2016, you must apply for registration online at least 45 days before you intend to start trading and you should properly wait until you get approval from HMRC before you start trading.

For more detail, see our previous news: 'Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS) – update'.

HMRC guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-alcohol-wholesaler-registration-scheme-awrs#history