HMAG151101 - Excise duty points: failure to comply with any condition subject to any relief from payment of excise duty in Great Britain

The relevant provisions are contained in The Excise Goods (Holding, Movement and Duty Point) Regulations 2010 (HMDP).

This section applies where there is a failure by any person in Great Britain to comply with any condition subject to which any relief from payment of duty applies. This is a stand-alone excise duty point under the HMDP regulations. The conditions of the relief are not prescribed in the HMDP regulations but are covered in other legislative provisions or notices. For example, where the excise goods are being delivered for shipment as stores but are not put to their correct purpose. 

This section does not apply in cases where a warehousekeeper fails to remove excise goods, which are subject to a relief from excise duty, in a lawful manner. For example, where a warehousekeeper does not follow the correct movement procedure for removing the excise goods for use as ships stores (e.g. the goods are removed without a C945). In this case the goods are considered to have been unlawfully removed from the warehouse (see section HMAG150501) and you should take action on the earlier excise duty point, even if there has been a subsequent breach of the conditions of the relief by another party.      

Excise duty point

Where there is a failure to comply with any conditions subject to which any relief from the payment of duty applies, an excise duty point arises under regulation 18(1). The time of the duty point is the time of that failure to comply with the conditions of the relief.

Person liable to pay the duty

The person liable to pay the duty when there is an excise duty point under regulation 18 is shown in regulation 18(2). That is the person who is holding the excise goods at the excise duty point. This will normally mean the person who is/was physically holding the goods at the excise duty point. 

There is no joint and several liability associated with regulation 18(2).