Selling your Homebrew

[Ducatiboy stu]

Your beer can be produced by a legal micro brewery and then sold.

This is true as the excise will have been paid by the brewery. Obviously your boss will need a licence to sell retail. Probably your only option.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

As a side note. I contacted the ATO sometime back about starting a micro. Very helpfull and full of information and great advice.

 

[Florian]

Deleted - what's the point?!

 

[Canadian Brewer]

A friend recently asked about this and contacted the ATO for more details.

This is their reply to his enquiry, he decided not to proceed:

---------------

Thanks for your enquiry about selling your home brewed beer. Unfortunately it is not legal to sell home brewed beer commercially under any circumstances.
There are no fees for the licence itself, so the costs involved are in setting up the brewery to the standard required. We do not licence breweries in advance, so you will need to have all your equipment, records, security etc in place before you apply. It is therefore advisable to check state and local government regulations prior to applying to us for the licence. We usually will make a decision on your application within 28 days of receiving a complete application - however this means that all the attachments and other information have been provided in full when you apply. If the case officer needs you to provide further information, the 28 days begins only when we have received all the further information.
You may want to read other information available on our web-site here: Please also feel free to call us on 1300 137 290 (alcohol option) if you have any questions while working through the information above. This number will put you through to Licensing rather than the ATO generally. If you are requested to leave a message because we are all on calls, we will get back to you as soon as possible.
If you wish to sell commercially, even on a small scale, you will need to meet the requirements and be granted a manufacturer's licence for your brewery. The form is available here: http://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/Licence-to-manufacture-alcohol/
Please also take a look at the requirements for record keeping for breweries, which are extensive: http://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Excise/In-detail/Record-keeping/Record-keeping-and-related-requirements-for-breweries/
You should also take a look at the requirements for alcohol strength testing and alcohol volume testing:
Strength - http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?Docid=ELD/ED20091/00001
Volume - http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?Docid=ELD/ED20092/00001
You will also need to complete these background check forms:
Company (for the company holding the licence, as applicable) - http://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/Consent-to-obtain-information---company/
Individual (for all the directors and senior managers of the company holding the licence) - http://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/Consent-to-obtain-information---individual/
Criminal history check (for all staff who will have unsupervised access to the brewery and / or its records) - http://www.ato.gov.au/Forms/Consent-to-criminal-history-record-check/
You can find the excise rates applicable to beer here (scroll down to the table): Please be aware they are reviewed and may change on the 1 Feb and 1 Aug each year.
Information on excise returns is here: Excise returns are usually processed within 48 hours, Monday to Friday, during business hours and excluding public holidays. Usually you will start on prepayment excise returns until you are familiar with excise requirements.

Wow, thanks for the info. We do have an off license but seeing what is required I am certain he will think twice before suggesting something like that again! Oh well, I suppose I will have to content myself with the 40L kettle until I am in a position to start a micro brewery :drinks:

 

[Greg.L]

It's not just the tax office and olgr, you also have to get a DA approved by your local council.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

If he already has a licence thenyou are halfway there, he will be able to vary his licence. When it comes to the ATO & excise, things get a bit harder. All your vesels and measuring equip ( hydrometers ) will need calibration certificates. You must submit your recipies to the ATO and be able to brew consistant ABV levels. The ATO charge on the amount of alc produced. You must keep accurate records of all fermentable purchased and used, ie, what you purchase and brew with over 12mnths must add up to the amount of alc produced thru your recipies sent to the ATO. It is possible to do it on a small 40L scale and I know of one brewery that does.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I think what indica86 is referring to after the comments made, is to let his boss take the responsibility to brew beer and sell it.

 

[Florian]

Or let the boss pay for Canadian Brewer's Braumeister (tongue in cheek, obviously), that's at least how I took it.

EDIT: Still don't get why NC added a quote from the OP into indica's quote that clearly wasn't there originally, but let's not go there again.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The ways and wonders of AHB.........