The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco announced changes to how alcoholic beverage businesses file their paperwork. There will be new regulations surrounding the monthly reports and excise taxes that companies in the alcoholic beverage industry must follow. The changes will remove the postmark deadlines and further clarify electronic submission deadlines as well as credit and allowance requirements. These changes will not impact the regulatory cost in a meaningful way and therefore does not require legislative ratification.
3 monthly report changes
The new regulations on 61A-4.009 Monthly Reports are as follows:
- Manufacturers, distributors, brokers, sales agents, and importers shall remit the appropriate excise taxes on or before the 10th of each month by 11:59 p.m. At that time, they will also provide details of all transactions for the previous month on the appropriate forms (which will vary depending upon the type of business).
- If the deadline is a legal holiday or a weekend day, they must submit the form by 11:59 p.m. on the following business day that is not a weekend or holiday.
- Licensees who submit their reports and excise taxes on time will qualify for collection credits and allowances authorized under Beverage Law. Those that do not meet their deadline shall forfeit their privileges of collection credits and allowances. They are also delinquent.
Not sure what to do?
Those businesses who have questions about excise taxes, transaction details or the new changes should talk to an attorney who understands alcoholic beverage law here in Florida. Their knowledgeable guidance can help businesses avoid penalties and fines.