Shipping Restrictions & Reporting Requirements
By: VinterActive LLC
Disclaimer
VinterActive LLC does not offer legal advice and strongly encourages anyone seeking an opinion on compliance matters to consult with a qualified attorney. The information provided here is intended only to help interested readers learn more about some of the significant issues facing wineries and wine retailers on the internet.
Summary
While legal battles across the country continue to shape the wine shipping landscape, U.S. wineries face a myriad of state and federal regulatory requirements for inter- and intra-state shipment of wine. According to one source, a U.S. winery wishing to comply with every state regulation for legally shipping wine direct to consumers would need to file over 600 forms per year and pay dozens of different taxes and fees.
In the absence of uniform direction from state, local, federal or industry jurisdictions, individual wineries have resorted to a wide range of tactics for complying with applicable shipping restrictions and reporting requirements. Most wineries restrict the list of states they ship to, some larger wineries have complete in-house compliance departments and many use the services of outside shipping and compliance specialists.
Regardless of your approach, the legal and ethical ramifications of your business decision should be carefully considered and discussed with a qualified compliance specialist.
The VinterActive Solution
When you are ready, VinterActive can help you comply with shipping restrictions, taxation and reporting requirements using a complete range of options available within our SecureWineShop™ ecommerce system.
Wine shipping may be allowed or restricted to any state you wish. Retail and wholesale tax rates can be calculated on a state or zip code level. Date of birth can be captured for any or all of the states you ship to. Volume/timeframe limits may be set for any state and order size may be limited to any number of bottles you wish.
Learning More
Wine Institute’s Direct Shipping pages -- http://www.wineinstitute.org/programs/shipwine/
Free the Grapes -- http://www.freethegrapes.org/