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Best practices for weaving compliance into your DTC workflow Because of the nature of alcohol, companies that sell beverage alcohol directly to consumers are generally subject to more regulations than sellers of, say, socks. And because of the character of the regulations, mistakes can be costly. Developing a process that includes age verification, tax calculation, and a baked-in compliance workflow helps ensure essential requirements are met. Verify age Although online beverage alcohol sellers can’t inspect a buyer’s physical photo ID as easily as brick-and-mortar sellers, they can and should confirm consumers are old enough to purchase or receive alcohol.
Economic nexus is getting tricky for alcohol sellers After the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., in June of 2018, the beverage alcohol industry didn’t immediately experience the same level of impact other industries felt. However, over the course of the last two and a half years, complexity has steadily increased. With several significant changes in 2020, as well as Florida and Missouri (the last two holdouts for adopting economic nexus laws) potentially getting added to the mix in 2021, the situation is growing more and more complex for alcohol sellers to navigate. Here’s a snapshot state tax laws for wineries:
Alcohol Marketplaces 2.0 Part 2: Collect sales tax from marketplaces or comply with alcohol guidance? Only businesses holding a license to sell alcohol at retail can sell alcohol to consumers. That simple fact complicates matters for unlicensed entities such as online marketplaces, delivery apps, and delivery services that would like to create or enhance platforms to facilitate alcohol sales. Marketplace platform providers, alcohol licensees, and alcohol and tax regulatory agencies all have different goals and concerns when it comes to the sale of beverage alcohol products. In this Alcohol Marketplaces blog series, Rebecca Stamey-White, partner at Hinman & Carmichael LLP, and Jeff Carroll, general manager of Avalara for Beverage Alcohol, will explore the multiple issues surrounding alcohol marketplaces and propose a compliance framework to meet the goals and concerns of different stakeholders.
Tennessee bill would ban the use of fulfillment houses for DTC wine shipments A bill making its way through the Tennessee Legislature would make it illegal for fulfillment houses in the United States to ship wine to Tennessee consumers on behalf of licensed wineries. If House Bill 0742 or its companion Senate Bill is 0705 enacted, wine drinkers in the Volunteer State could soon be unable to purchase wine from their favorite wineries. This bill caught wineries and consumers by surprise. If enacted, it could take business away from licensed fulfillment houses that do exactly what they’re authorized to do: Store wine on behalf of licensed wineries and ship it on their behalf via common carrier directly to consumers in Tennessee and other states. At this point, the motivation behind the bill is unclear.
Alcohol Marketplaces 2.0 Part 1: Solicitation of sales by unlicensed third-party providers Only businesses that hold a license to sell alcohol at retail can sell alcohol to consumers. That simple fact complicates matters for unlicensed entities such as online marketplaces, delivery apps, and delivery services that would like to create or enhance platforms to facilitate alcohol sales. Marketplace platform providers, alcohol licensees, and alcohol and tax regulatory agencies all have different goals and concerns when it comes to the sale of beverage alcohol products. In this Alcohol Marketplaces blog series, Rebecca Stamey-White, partner at Hinman & Carmichael LLP, and Jeff Carroll, general manager of Avalara for Beverage Alcohol, will explore multiple issues surrounding alcohol marketplaces and propose a compliance framework to meet the goals and concerns of different stakeholders.