Implementation of Refund Procedures for Craft Beverage Modernization Act Federal Excise Tax Benefits Applicable to Imported Alcohol

Issuing agencies

Abstract

This temporary rule amends the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regulations to implement certain changes made to the Internal Revenue Code by the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Tax Relief Act), which amended the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA) provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Tax Relief Act transfers responsibility for administering CBMA provisions regarding reduced tax rates and tax credits on imported alcohol from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, effective January 1, 2023. Beginning on that date, importers will pay the full tax rate at entry and subsequently submit refund claims to TTB to receive the lower rates. This rule establishes procedures for industry members to take advantage of reduced tax rates and tax credits that may be applied to specified limits of imported alcohol products that are entered for consumption in the United States beginning on January 1, 2023. These regulations establish the procedures by which foreign producers may assign the reduced tax rates and tax credits to importers and the procedures by which such importers may receive the assignments and submit refund claims to TTB. TTB is soliciting comments from all interested parties on these amendments through a notice of proposed rulemaking published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.