Regulatory requirements for retail of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products in Ukraine
In order to launch your own business in the field of alcoholic beverages and tobacco retail one should know several aspects compliance with which is compulsory for receiving permit to sell goods subject to excise tax.
Major regulatory act in this regard is Law of Ukraine "On state regulation of production and circulation of ethyl, cognac and fruit alcohol, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products".(hereinafter - the Law). The Law establishes the basic concepts and requirements of the retail sale of excisable goods. According to this act, the right to retail sale of excisable goods is enjoyed by entrepreneurs who, in a certain order, have received a specific license. In turn, to obtain this type of permit, the business entity must comply with certain requirements. Let us consider in more detail what criteria and for what types of excisable goods are necessary.
First of all, you need to prepare premises where retail sale of the above products will be carried out. In Art. 1 of the Law, the concept of “place of trading” is fixed, which clearly indicates the requirements: area size - it should not be less than 20 square meters; availability of a registrar of settlement transactions or books of accounting of settlement transactions. Separate criteria are also put forward for the type of premises, in particular, it cannot be located on the territory of educational institutions or in these buildings directly; in departments selling goods for children and sports assortment; in sports facilities, if they are closed. These are the general requirements for the premises where the goods will be sold. At the same time, the sale of beer, which also belongs to alcoholic beverages, is possible in the premises smaller than the required area and in sports facilities, if they are closed. Thus, it turns out that retail trade of this product is allowed not only in stores, but also in catering establishments (cafes, pubs, bars), hotels, entertainment facilities, beauty salons, provided that the above requirements are met.
The availability of registrars and books of account in the sales premises is another requirement for an institution or store. The number of cash register machines is not limited, but the sale of excisable goods is possible only through the machine specified in the license for alcohol. That is, if an entrepreneur has a large store and wants to install three cash desks there, then in order to be able to sell alcohol and cigarettes through all the machines, he needs to obtain three separate licenses. This rule does not apply to tobacco products, since in the event of such a sale, a license is issued at the point of sale. Previously, beer sales were recorded in accounting books, which also need to be registered, but today this is not enough and a cash desk is needed to sell this type of alcohol.
The procedure for the sale of excisable goods using cash registers is provided for in Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Application of Registrars of Settlement Transactions in the Field of Trade, Catering and Services”. It is advisable for the business entity to begin the process of opening a point of sale, to trade in alcohol and tobacco, precisely with the registration of the registrar, because in this way, firstly, compliance of the point of sale with the law will be ensured, and secondly, when preparing a package of documents for an alcohol license, you must immediately indicate fiscal number of the registered cash register.
After the preparation of the premises and the commissioning of all cash desks, the last step in this process is to obtain a license from the relevant authority. According to Art. 15 of the Law, licenses are issued at the place of trading. Thus, despite the tax address of the enterprise in Kharkov, if trade is planned to be carried out in Kiev, then the submission of documents for an alcohol license must be carried out in Kiev. If the decision is positive, the entrepreneur receives a license for the right to carry out retail trade in alcoholic beverages and tobacco products and begins to engage in this type of economic activity.
So, the process of creating your own business with the goal of retail sale of alcohol and tobacco requires not only diligence, but also professionalism and knowledge of all the ins and outs of today's legislation. Our law firm will help you obtain all the necessary permits for conducting legitimate business activities.
