Pay Excise Duty without a guarantee
Find out if you can use the Excise Payment Security System when paying the duty due on excise goods released for consumption in the UK.
If you’re authorised to use the Excise Payment Security System (EPSS), you’ll be able to defer or make payments of excise duty without having to provide a guarantee.
If you are a trader in Great Britain wishing to defer duties on excise goods at import or released from an excise warehouse, you do not need to apply for EPSS. Instead, you can apply for a guarantee waiver at the same time as applying for a duty deferment account.
This could reduce the amount of financial guarantee you need to provide. You may be required to complete a Proven Financial Solvency form (PFS1) as part of this application.
If you are an excise trader in Northern Ireland, EPSS will continue to apply under the existing arrangements.
EPSS will continue to remain unavailable to Registered Consignees, Registered Commercial Importers, or Tax Representatives appointed for distance selling arrangements, as European Union law requires the duty on excise goods moving under these regimes to be covered by a guarantee.
Who the system is for
To apply for EPSS you must have been either:
- VAT-registered for 3 years or more
- registered or approved for an excise payment regime for at least 3 years if you’re trading below the VAT registration threshold
Also, you must pay excise duty:
- under deferment arrangements when excise goods are released for consumption in the UK on importation or from an excise warehouse, registered tobacco premises or oil production premises
- on excise goods that are released for consumption in the UK from a UK beer, wine, made-wine, cider or perry production premises
EPSS is not available to Registered Consignees, Registered Commercial Importers, or Tax Representatives appointed for distance selling arrangements, as European Union law requires the duty on excise goods moving under these regimes to be covered by a guarantee.
Apply for EPSS
The application form you should use depends on the type of excise duty payments you’re making.
Use form EPSS(A) if you’re making deferred payments of excise duty on excise goods released for consumption in Northern Ireland on importation or from an excise warehouse, or if you’re making deferred payments of excise duty on excise goods released for consumption in the UK from a registered tobacco premises or oil production premises.
Your application will only be processed if you already have a live Deferment Approval Number or you’ve submitted a separate application for one.
Use form EPSS(B) if you’re paying excise duty on excise goods released for consumption in the UK from a UK beer, wine, made-wine, cider or perry production premises.
If you have any queries about your EPSS application, you can contact HMRC via the email address: team.siva@hmrc.gov.uk.
After you’ve applied
HMRC will assess your application against certain criteria. We may also do external credit checks if we feel there is a revenue risk.
HMRC will aim to process your application for EPSS within 30 calendar days.
We’ll tell you our decision by letter. If you’ve not been authorised, the reasons why you’ve failed to meet the authorisation criteria will be included in your letter. You must continue to provide a 100% guarantee to cover your payments of excise duty.
Make an appeal
If HMRC decline your application, you can appeal.
You have 3 options. Within 30 days you can:
- send new information or arguments to the officer you’ve been dealing with
- write to the officer that made the decision to say you want your case reviewed by a different officer
- have your case heard by the independent Tribunals Service
Last updated 2 March 2021 + show all updates
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This page has been updated because the Brexit transition period has ended.
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First published.