Arizona DtC License Now Available
With online application, wineries of any size can ship
San Rafael, Calif.—Arizona is opening its virtual borders for direct-to-consumer (DtC) wine shipments from producers of any size. Previously only tiny “farm wineries” with annual production of less than 20,000 gallons were allowed the privilege.
Wine Institute saluted the new regulations in its newsletter, and compliance specialist ShipCompliant heralded them as the top news in an end-of-year webcast released this week. To apply for the new license, click here.
The new 17W licenses must be renewed yearly, and the annual fee is $225. Applicants must also have an Arizona Transaction Tax (TPT) number in the state, which requires monthly tax reports, even if no sales are recorded. The state emphasizes that the TPT license may take six to eight days for processing, and it must be in place prior to processing the 17W license. Payment of the $225 must be made in advance.
Shipping regulations are fairly standard, including:
Age verification: Wineries must either receive a copy of the purchaser’s license, indicating they are over 21 years of age, or use an age-verification service.
Labeling: All packages must be conspicuously labeled with the words, “Contains alcohol, signature of a person age 21 or older required for delivery.”
Annual reporting: A report is due to the DLLC by Jan. 31 every year indicating all of the DtC sales made the previous year.
Tax payments: all TPT and Luxury Taxes are due on every DtC sale.
Customer-aggregated volume limits: Arizona residents are limited on the amount of wine shipments they may receive from any one winery in a calendar year. This amount is scheduled to increase over the next few years, but in 2017, this limit is six 9-liter cases of wine per person, per winery.
“Notably, the addition of the 17W type license does not replace the existing Farm Winery license. Therefore, wineries that producing less than 20,000-gallon annual production, that already have a Farm Winery license can continue to sell DtC under that license,” according to the state.
According to Wine Institute, when winery staff apply for a state TPT License, they should also check the boxes for the various municipal TPT Licenses if they intend to ship to those municipalities. Or, since a winery may not know which municipalities they will be shipping to, the winery can ship the wine to any municipality in Arizona when it is purchased online. When the winery is submitting its TPT return at the end of each month, it can then sign up for the municipality’s TPT license. All state and municipal TPT licenses are renewed by Jan. 31 of each year.
