HMASABN5040 – Detail of the scheme: How will warehousekeepers request to abandon the goods?

When should the warehousekeeper request to abandon goods?

Warehousekeepers should request permission to abandon goods to HMRC when they first become aware that they have become liable to pay the excise duty on them (e.g. immediately after the initial period, immediately after discovering that the owner’s registration has been revoked, or that relevant goods have been sold to an owner without the required WOWGR registration or to a foreign owner who has not secured the services of a UK duty representative). Additionally the warehousekeeper does not intend to pay or account for the duty.

Who should warehousekeepers contact when requesting to abandon goods?

It is likely that officers will have already identified that the warehousekeeper is liable to pay excise duty on the goods and issued an appropriate excise duty assessment. If this is the case the warehousekeeper can be expected to contact the issuing officer directly.

However, where warehousekeepers identify that they are liable to excise duty without any prior contact from HMRC and they don’t have regular contact with a particular assurance team they are likely to approach the National Advice Service. If this happens officers within NAS have been asked to forward on these requests to the relevant risk team or Client Relationship Manager (CRM) for the trader. The decision to allow goods to be abandoned will not be made by the NAS.

Risk teams will arrange for the request to be dealt with by the appropriate assurance team who will make suitable enquiries to establish whether the request meets the conditions necessary for abandonment of the goods to be allowed - see pages HMASABN5010, HMASABN5020 and HMASABN5030).