How to get approval to use premises as an excise warehouse
How to apply to operate premises as an excise warehouse and when to report changes to HMRC.
Types of premises
There are 3 types of excise warehouse premises approval that HMRC will consider:
- general storage and distributions warehouses
- trade facility warehouses for alcohol, tobacco and vaping
- motor and heating fuels warehouses
You must be an authorised warehousekeeper to operate an excise warehouse.
What you’ll need
When you apply you must include:
- 3 copies of drawings or plans showing details of the proposed approved area
- a copy of your premises’ health and safety risk assessment — if this is not practical you can provide an executive summary
- a premises guarantee
- a business plan
Your business plan
Your business plan should be proportionate to the size and complexity of the business. You should include information about:
- costings
- suppliers
- your customer base
- market research
- profit forecasts
We’ll use the business plan to check the application relates to commercial, viable and credible business activities. We’ll ask you for more information if it does not give us enough detail to make a decision.
How to apply
For general storage and distribution or trade facility warehouses
You can apply to be an excise warehousekeeper for:
- alcohol
- tobacco
- vaping products
For motor and heating fuels warehouse
Find out how to apply for approval to operate premises as a motor and heating fuels warehouse.
After you apply
An HMRC officer will visit the premises, to check that:
- the premises are secure and suitable
- risks to the revenue are managed
- the environment is healthy and safe to work in
If you’re applying for trade facility warehouse approval, you must:
- provide full details of what you intend to do in the warehouse
- be able to demonstrate why operations should be completed in duty-suspension
If we give approval
Once we’re satisfied that the premises meet our requirements and that there is an authorised warehousekeeper in place for the premises, we’ll send you an approval letter. The letter will set out the conditions of your approval.
If you do not comply with these conditions, we may:
- add to, or vary, those conditions
- cancel your approval
- consider imposing financial penalties
What premises approval covers
Premises approval only covers the premises named in the approval. If you want to open another excise warehouse to hold duty-suspended goods, you must write to us, quoting your excise warehousekeeper authorisation number.
If you want to occupy premises which are currently approved under another approval, you must also hold the endorsement of the current excise warehousekeeper to transfer their premises to you. We consider this a request for approval of a new excise warehouse.
You’ll need to supply the same level of information presented for any new premises application. You’ll also need to check your level of premises security and, if necessary, arrange for a higher level of security.
We will not grant any new approval until we’re satisfied that you can provide adequate security.
If we do not give approval
If we cannot approve your application, we’ll write to you and tell you why. We’ll offer you a review of our decision.
In general, we may not approve your application if:
- the warehousekeeper for the premises fails to meet any of the authorisation criteria
- there are significant health and safety or security risks identified within the premises
- you cannot demonstrate a genuine need for an excise warehouse
These are not the only reasons we may not grant approval. There may be others.
General storage and distributions warehouses
We may not grant approval if you cannot show a real, economic need to store goods under excise duty suspension arrangements at the premises.
Trade facility warehouses
We may not grant approval for trade facility warehouses, if:
- the premises do not fulfil a particular trade need
- the premises are not suitable for the intended operations
- the trade facilitation must be completed within the duty suspension regime
Motor and heating fuels warehouses
We may not grant approval for motor and heating fuels warehouses, if:
- you cannot provide a minimum of one million litres bulk storage capacity
- the warehouse is for the exclusive use of you, or an associated company
If we cancel your approval
We can cancel warehouse premises approval at any time if there’s a reasonable cause.
We’ll usually give you 3 months notice of cancellation, but we can reduce this period if we think it’s necessary.
If a premises guarantee is withdrawn
We’ll cancel an approval if a premises guarantor has advised us that they’re withdrawing from their guarantee, and you’re not able to provide a replacement premises guarantor.
If you do not comply with rules and conditions
We may cancel or vary your approval if you do not comply with any:
- rules on receiving, storing and moving excise goods
- condition attached to your approval
If we do, we’ll also cancel your authorisation as an excise warehousekeeper. Excise duty will become due on all excise warehouse goods unless another authorised warehousekeeper takes over responsibility for the premises immediately.
What you need to do
If we cancel your approval, you must remove all duty-suspended goods from your excise warehouse, by either:
- paying the duty
- moving the goods to another approved excise warehouse
- removing the goods for a purpose which does not attract duty
You must comply with any conditions we impose while you wait for the result of a review or appeal of the cancellation.
Changes you must report to HMRC
If you want HMRC to vary the terms of your warehouse approval for a short time or permanently, you must tell us as soon as possible.
Find out how to apply to add, remove, or change a warehouse as an authorised excise warehousekeeper.
For motor and heating fuels warehousing, you must complete form EX70 as soon as possible.
Tell us what you need and why you need it. For example, you may want to:
- include or exclude types of excise goods
- increase or decrease the approved area
Structural changes to an excise warehouse
Structural additions or alterations to approved areas, other than routine repairs, would be treated as a change to your existing approval.
Make sure you have our written consent before you start any work. If you do not, we may cancel your approval.
If you provide premises security, you must:
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Check the level of your guarantee.
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Arrange for a higher level of security, if necessary.
We will not grant you a new approval until you show that you can provide adequate security.
Annexe warehouses
You may need additional storage space — for example, due to seasonal demand. If you can provide evidence that you need it, we’ll consider allowing you to use those premises under the terms of your main excise warehouse approval. This is known as an ‘annexe warehouse’.
An annexe warehouse must comply with all of the conditions of the main excise warehouse approval. We may add additional conditions to your approval to specify what operations (if any) can be carried out on the stored goods while they’re in the annexe. If you cannot comply, you’ll have to get separate approval for the additional premises.
Transfer of premises
Approval does not automatically continue if an authorised excise warehousekeeper sells or transfers their warehouse premises.
The new excise warehousekeeper must apply for a new warehouse approval.
If you disagree with a decision
Find out more about how to appeal if you disagree with an HMRC decision.
Updates to this page
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Information about fixed term premises approval has been removed.
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Guidance about how to apply and changes you must report to HMRC has been updated.
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Information about what you should include in your business plan has been added.
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First published.