What to know about the latest tariff changes and CBMA in 2021

The last few weeks of the year brought about some regulatory changes that impact the alcoholic beverage industry.  In case you missed it, here are some the key takeaways.

Additional wines categories and brandies from France and Germany added to Civil Aircraft Trade Dispute

Here are the main points of the recent tariff modifications the US Trade Office unexpectedly announced on December 30th, 2020.    

The effective date is 12:01AM Eastern on January 12, 2021 and is based on the date “products are entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption.” This is the customs clearance date, not vessel arrival date. We anticipate this will create high volumes for entries around this date. Our shipping partner Hillebrand will work to prioritize clearances from France and Germany, but be aware that CBP (Customs & Border Protection) processing times cannot be guaranteed.

The products to be added to the 25% tariff include effervescent wines, Tokay wine, Marsala, wines of fresh grapes (both under and over 14%, bottled and bulk) grape must, nesoi and distilled spirits from grape. Read the full press release from the USTR and the link to the Federal Register notice with the HS code level detail here.

For importers of French and German wines not currently in transit, Hillebrand can offer airfreight solutions. Please connect with your Hillebrand representative.

View products listed on the Federal Register notice
https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/files/Press/Releases/LCARevisionNotice.pdf

Craft Beverage Tax Breaks (CBMA) made permanent  

As of January 1st, 2021 The Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA) has been made permanent.  Under the CBMA reduced taxes and/or tax credits can be applied to imports of certain limited quantities of wines, distilled spirits and beer.  

There are only slight procedural changes for processing CBMA 2021 claims. All three of the supporting documents are still required, but they will only need to be submitted to the Documentation Imaging System (DIS) if CBP requests them, the ACE Portal shows “docs required” or when filing a CBMA rate via protest.

For all claims the documents must still be completed, even if the submission process is only upon request. The CBP can request documents at any time so they must be on file. To recap these are the following required documents to support CBMA entry claims:

CBP156 Supplier Assignment Letter – must be signed by the supplier

CBP154 Controlled Group Spreadsheet – must complete a new sheet for 2021

CBP155 CBMA Spreadsheet – to be updated with each 2021 claim

Read the full details in the Customs Messaging Service #45315560 here.