Obligations if your business changes or ceases – excisable alcohol

If you hold an excise licence and you change or cease your business operations, you need to notify us.

On this page:

• Changing your business situation
• Ceasing your business operation

Find out about:

• Alcohol excise terms

Changing your business situation

You must notify us within 30 days of changes to your business such as:

• change in ownership
• change in people who manage or control your business
• criminal charge or conviction of you or others who manage or control your business
• receivership, administration, liquidation or bankruptcy
• change in premises
• changes that substantially affect the physical security of the premises or plant and equipment used in relation to excisable goods at the premises
• changes to the type of excisable goods you manufacture or store (including excise equivalent goods (EEGs) used in excise manufacture)
• if you stop manufacturing or storing excisable goods.

Ceasing your business operation

As a condition of your excise licence you must write to us within 30 days of ceasing to operate your business, to request we cancel your licence.

Before we cancel your licence, we need to ensure you no longer have any excisable or customable products. To do this we may:

• conduct a final audit of goods at the excise-licensed premises
• work out if you're liable to pay any excise duty.

If you decide to sell your business inclusive of stock, we'll try to cancel your licence at the same time as we approve the licence for the new owner. That way there will be continuity of licensing for the premises and goods. However, this doesn't mean we will automatically grant the new owner a licence.

If you don't intend to sell the goods with your business, you can either:

• pay any outstanding excise duty on goods held at the excise-licensed premises and then dispose of the goods as you wish
• move the goods to another licence holder's premises if you have permission from us.

If you're ceasing your excise activities and closing your business permanently, you'll also need to cancel your GST and ABN registration.

Find out about:

• Contact us about excise and EEGs (imports)
• Excise on alcohol

See also:

• Changing, selling or closing your business
• If your GST business changes or ceases