Things To Be Thankful For In Winemaking Compliance
Yes I know, “thankful” and “compliance” don’t usually show up in the same sentence together. But if you’re someone who has spent the past 15 years interacting with the TTB from a recordkeeping and reporting standpoint you can appreciate the improvements that have come along to simplify the process. Plus I’m a person who believes in a regular practice of gratitude. So in the spirit of this annual American tradition from our founding days I’ve summarized a few of this years compliance “developments” that I’m grateful for. Read more
Congratulations, You’re A Winery! Now What??
There are currently over 7,000 wineries in the US. I continually am in contact with folks at the beginning stage of starting a wine business, and many of those are as a “bonded winery”. Basically what that expression means is they are licensed as a winery, so a business that makes wine, grape to bottle. It’s a pretty exciting stage to become officially licensed, but then after that initial excitement wears off comes all the “what do I do now?” questions as far as compliance related to that new permit. Believe it or not everyone I interact with that is starting a winery is doing so because they’re excited about making and selling wine……….not because it means they’ll get to deal with compliance. Read more
Wineries – Are You Out of Bounds on Your Bond?
I recently wrote a post about one of the potential compliance side effects related to this years high yield harvest. Afterwards, while I was talking to a client I was reminded of another potential compliance issue. He asked about the topic of bond coverage and what happens if wineries go outside their limits.
First, let me put all of that into laymans terms and how it ties into this years high volume harvest. All wineries have specific bond coverage (TTB requirement) which is an insurance policy that covers the total tax liability for wines they have on their site at any given time. If their total volume goes over that coverage amount in the event of an accident or an audit they would be outside their coverage amounts on their TTB reports. In both cases something they can be fined for or worse, held responsible for tax liability on wine that accidentally was lost. Read more