Alcoholic beverages tax (ABT): producers

If you're a distributor of alcoholic beverages, you must register with New York State before you start producing product, purchasing inventory, or selling alcoholic beverages in New York State.

Registration includes obtaining your:

• Sales Tax Certificate of Authority
• New York State Liquor License
• New York State Registration as a Distributor of Alcoholic Beverages

For more information, see Licensing and registration requirements.

If you produce, brew, distill, or manufacture alcoholic beverages for sale, you must register as a distributor and file ABT returns, and pay any tax due. Returns are due on either a monthly or annual basis, depending on your license type. For more information, see Filing frequency.

Your ABT return is a summary of your inventory, including the following:

• amounts on hand at the beginning and ending of your reporting period
• purchases
• amount produced
• production adjustment for businesses engaged in rectifying, distilling, blending or fortifying,
• sales

These amounts should only include alcoholic beverages that are finished and ready for sale.

Do not include:

• products that are aging or in the production process, or
• products that are held in a bonded warehouse.

As a producer, you may be eligible for a variety of sales tax exemptions on purchases that you make for your manufacturing process. Machinery, equipment, parts, tools and supplies used directly and predominately in producing your product for sale are eligible for the exemption.

These exemptions for manufacturing are separate from those provided to farming operations.

For more information see Tax Bulletin Alcoholic Beverage Producers in New York State (TB-ST-15).

If you are a bottle deposit initiator, New York State's Returnable Container Act requires you to collect a $.05 deposit on beverage containers containing less than one gallon of carbonated soft drinks, beer, malt beverages, wine coolers or water, sold in New York State.

If you package your product for sale in bottles, cans, or crowlers, you may be responsible for the beverage container deposit unless you are purchasing the empty containers from a registered deposit initiator. For more information, see Beverage container deposits.

If you are a registered distributor for ABT, you may be entitled to a tax credit on your income tax or corporation tax returns at the end of the year.

For more information, see Alcoholic beverage production credit.

You must keep an accurate record of all purchases, sales, or other dispositions of alcoholic beverages. Records must specify:

• the number of gallons of beer or cider produced, manufactured, brewed, or fermented, and
• the number of gallons of wine and liters of liquor produced, distilled, manufactured, compounded, blended, or fermented.

You must date and keep your records in good order for at least three years. Your records must be available for inspection at any time.

For additional information on recordkeeping requirements, see Sales and distribution.

Consequences of inadequate records

If your records are inadequate, you may be subject to civil and criminal penalties. For additional information, see Penalty information for registered distributors for alcoholic beverages.