If you sell alcohol to another business you may need to apply to register for the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS).

Before you apply, check if you need approval to sell alcohol to other businesses, and whether any exclusions apply.

Agents cannot use the AWRS service to apply on behalf of their clients.

What you can do with this service

Use this service to:

• apply to register as an alcohol wholesaler
• check the progress of your application
• change the details in your application
• cancel or withdraw your application or approval

Before you start

You need to sign in to access the service.

Use your:

• organisation user ID and password if you’re a limited company or partnership
• individual user ID and password if you’re self-employed or a sole trader

If you do not already have a user ID and password, you can create them in the ‘Apply to register for the AWRS’ section below.

You’ll also need your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR). Check where you can find your UTR if you do not know it.

The UTR you’ll need depends on your business type:

• limited company — Corporation Tax UTR
• partnership — Self Assessment UTR
• sole trader or self-employed — individual Self Assessment UTR

You may also need:

• the addresses of any additional premises where you trade
• for UK residents — the names and National Insurance numbers of all business directors, company secretaries or partners
• for non-UK residents — the names and passport numbers of all business directors, company secretaries or partners
• the names, addresses and VAT registration numbers of up to 5 of your largest alcohol suppliers by volume, if you have suppliers

You may also be asked about the products you sell, your customers and how you take orders.

Apply to register for the AWRS

You need to sign in to access the service. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them when you sign in for the first time.

Apply now

What happens after you apply to register

Businesses already trading as alcohol wholesalers before 1 April 2016

You’ll get an acknowledgement with a reference number for your application. This is not your AWRS Unique Reference Number (URN).

You can continue to trade until you’ve been given HMRC’s decision.

Businesses starting to trade as alcohol wholesalers from 1 April 2016

You must apply giving notice of at least 45 calendar days. This will allow HMRC to process your application and undertake the fit and proper test (details are in part 6.10 of Excise Notice 2002). You’ll get an acknowledgement with a reference number of your application.

You cannot trade in alcohol wholesaling until you get approval.

For all applicants we may need to contact you in writing, by telephone, or you may get a pre-approval visit from us to assist in the processing of your application.

There’s no need to phone HMRC to check the progress of your application. You can check online.

Once a decision has been made you’ll get an email telling you to check online. If you’ve been approved you’ll see your URN which you should make a note of.

A URN is made up of 4 letters and 11 numbers, for example, XXAW00000123456.

Registered wholesalers need to include the URN on wholesale sales invoices from 1 April 2017.

How to make changes to your application

You’ll need to use the same sign in details that you used to make your application. You can then view the status of your request or make amendments.

If your application is being processed

You can make any changes or correct errors in the information you supplied. You should do this as soon as possible by signing into the service and following the instructions for ‘making changes’.

If you’ve been approved by HMRC and been given your AWRS URN

You’ll need to tell HMRC about any changes to your details as soon as possible.

You should sign in to the service to make changes to your application.

HMRC must be notified of some changes no later than 14 days from the date of change, including changes to:

Tell HMRC about any change of address for your principal place of business or to any of your trading premises before you use the new premises.

Paragraph 10.4 of Excise Notice 2002 has a full list of changes and the circumstances where you need to immediately inform HMRC.

How to cancel or withdraw your approval

If your AWRS application has been approved by HMRC but you decide to cancel it, you must let us know at least 30 days before the date you intend to stop trading in alcohol.

You should sign in to the service to cancel or withdraw your approval.

You should make arrangements to dispose of any wholesale alcohol stock before this date.

If your application has not been approved you can withdraw an application where you’ve, for example:

• signed up as the wrong business type

Criminal and civil sanctions have been introduced for both wholesalers and trade buyers found buying alcohol from non-approved wholesalers.

Penalties for:

• wholesalers trading without having submitted their application to HMRC came into force from 1 April 2016
• trade buyers who buy alcohol from unapproved wholesalers came into force from 1 April 2017

Any alcohol found on the premises of unapproved businesses may be seized, whether or not the duty has been paid.

Businesses will have a similar right to review and appeal as they do for other HMRC regimes for any civil penalties raised, or decisions related to their approval.

Problems with the service

Check if there are any problems with this service.

If you get an error message when registering for AWRS make sure the information you’ve entered is correct.

If you still get an error message use the ‘get help with this page’ link at the bottom of the AWRS screen to report what’s happened.