After CA wineries have survived the swarm of activity that is the grape harvest each year, they are then faced with another flurry of activity in the form of reports, which are due across different dates in January each year. This is our own version of “harvest” for those of us in the compliance world. Offices like mine and various staff at wineries are the ones tasked with managing any or all of these reports on an ongoing basis.
All California wineries, which means all businesses that hold the type 02, Winegrower CA ABC license will have their largest round of reporting due to three agencies, one federal and two state of California. Those three agencies are the TTB (Alcohol & Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau), the CDTFA (California Department of Tax and Fee Administration), and the CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture)
Businesses that hold the type 02 Winegrower license include both stand alone wineries, and the other significant portion that make up this group of 02 license holders, alternating proprietors (APs). Any business that holds the type 02 Winegrower license is essentially a stand alone winery in that they are responsible for filing their own set of the following reports in January of each year. Here is a summary of those reports by each agency.
TTB:
- The Report of Wine Premise Operations. The 5120.17 report. This report is always required to be filed by all US wineries, and has three options for how often they need to file it. (monthly, quarterly or annually) The due date is the same no matter what their filing frequency is, January 15th.
- If gallons are listed on line 8, Removed Taxpaid in Section B, Bottled wines of the 5120.17 report, an Excise tax report (form 5000.24) would also be required to be filed
- Both reports can be filed electronically via Pay.Gov (must have authorization to set up an account) or via mail
CDTFA:
- Winegrower tax return. Similar to the TTB, CA wineries will qualify to file this report either annually, quarterly or monthly. The CDTFA will determine their filing frequency for them based on a year’s worth of report filings and the gallon amounts they listed. The report is due on January 15th.
- Sales & Use tax report. Once again, this report is required either annually, quarterly or monthly, depending on the amount of sales/CA sales tax a business owes. The report due date is January 31st
- For both of these reports late fees and interest will be collected if filed late)
- Both of these CDTFA reports can be filed electronically via cdtfa.ca.gov once an account is set up.
CDFA:
- All businesses in California that receive and process grapes, purchase grapes or send any grapes they purchase to a winery site to be processed are required to file the CA Grape Crush Report. As mentioned above, since alternating proprietors (APs) hold their own type 02 license, they are required to file their own CA Grape Crush report for any grapes they receive/process under their 02 license. This report is due by January 10th.
- The report is “filed” via emailing the completed report spreadsheet. There is also a certification form which is sent via mail along with a check for fees due.
Questions on any of the above reporting and what it looks like for your business?
Schedule a “Compliance Check in” call to discuss your specifics and how these reports apply to you. Compliance Check in.