Insights from a TTB Licensing Attorney for Your Application
Understanding TTB Licensing
In addition to licenses from California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), many alcohol businesses also need a federal permit or bond from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the federal agency that regulates alcoholic beverages.
Any person planning to do any one of these operations needs a federal permit or bond:
(1) Produce, blend, or bottle wine, beer, or distilled spirits for commercial purposes (not for personal or family use);
(2) Wholesale or import wine, beer, or distilled spirits; or
(3) Store un-tax-paid wine, beer, or distilled spirits;
Licensed producers and importers also need to obtain Certificates of Label Approval (COLAs) and formula approvals from TTB.
Retail businesses do not need federal permits or bonds.
TTB posts resources about permit and bond applications here, including Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Applicants can submit applications on the TTB’s website or by mail.
Updating Your TTB License
It’s important for licensees, including corporate licensees, to report changes in ownership on time. If there is a change in actual or legal control of your permit (including an owner’s death), then the permit terminates unless a new application is filed within 30 days. If you file a new application within 30 days of the triggering event, then the existing basic permit continues in place until the new application is resolved.
The TTB explains changes in actual or legal control as follows:
“A change in proprietorship occurs when there is a change in the entity which owns and operates the business. It is synonymous with change in ownership, or it may be due to a change of entity type (for example a change from sole proprietor to LLC; from a partnership to a corporation, etc.) . . . A change in actual or legal control occurs when there are changes in stock ownership, LLC membership ownership, or possibly major changes in the corporate officers or directors of a corporation.”
Complying with Federal Alcohol Laws
To stay alive and grow, businesses need to know and follow the relevant laws. Federal unfair trade practice rules are among the most important alcohol laws—an essential baseline for businesses involved in making, selling, transporting, or storing alcohol. Gillian’s eBook on unfair trade practices is available here.
Why Hire an Experienced TTB Licensing Attorney
An experienced alcohol attorney can help you navigate the TTB licensing and approval process.
It’s important to consult an alcoholic beverage attorney about your business plan, including your plans for growth, as early as possible. Licensing choices affect how you can market and ship alcohol, as well as your future options for acquiring other categories of licensed businesses (i.e, how you operate within tied house rules and applicable tied house exceptions for combining producer and retail businesses).
Experienced alcoholic beverage counsel can set businesses up for full compliance with federal, state, and local laws, reduce enforcement risks, and protect business operations for the long term.
Frequently Asked Questions:
TTB is the federal agency that regulates alcohol, whereas ABC is the California agency that regulates alcohol. Every state has their own agency for regulating alcohol.
Businesses must obtain state ABC licenses in all the states where they operate. Businesses must obtain federal permits and bonds if they are involved in producing, importing, wholesaling, or warehousing alcoholic beverages.
Wineries, breweries, distilleries, blenders, rectifiers, bottlers, importers, wholesalers, and warehousers.
It depends on how quickly you respond to follow-up requests from TTB for data, whether you have been licensed before, and other factors. TTB posts information about its current processing times here.
It depends on the license category and whether your application is for wine, beer, or liquor. TTB posts information about its online permit portal here.
No.
You need a license from every state where you operate.
The two most common reasons for delays or denials are:
(1) Errors or failures to disclose required information on application documents; and
(2) Violations of tied house laws, which require separate ownership of businesses in the producer, wholesaler, and retailer tiers (no vertical integration).
Yes.