On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 17:29:22 +0100, Wojtek S wrote:

> Nils,
>
> to my best knowledge:
> in bond price is net of duty and VAT. quite often at the time of
> offering the wine is still it the county of production awaiting shipping
> or bottling. After being shipped to a bonded store and withdrawn the
> additional charges must be paid (actually before withdrawing, but until
> this time the wine could be stored in bond). these additional charges
> are based on the initial wine cost and do not change in time (assuming
> of course that the applicable VAT rates will not do) weather the wine
> increases in value or not. wine mostly comes in lots of 12 but also of 6
> regular bottles - a case size, I have seen also lots of 6 magnums and 24
> halfs
>
>
Hi there,

As I understand the UK system (I don't know if it applies elsewhere)
that's correct though duty (which is rather more likely to increase that
VAT) is also charged at the rate prevalent at the time of removal from
bond rather than at the time of purchase.

As you say most dealers only deal with full boxes (be those twelve or six
for full bottles) but there's no requirement to do this, it just makes it
easier for them to manage. There are about 10 bonded warehouses and
depending on the amount you store they charge around about £8 per annum
per case for storage.

I'd say that the in-bond price is important for en primeur offers where
the wine isn't in the country; for those who buy wine that is kept in a
merchants store to mature so duty isn't paid until its removal (which I do
to a bit due to lack of ideal storage conditions and space at home);
and that in-bond tends to be preferred for investment/at auction so that
if the wine is resold to a non-UK buyer no payment of UK duty and VAT is
ever required (so increasing potential profit).

Regards

Ian