Excise returns

Commercial plan. Federal excise returns are a commercial feature, and generating them needs the excise-filing add-on on your plan.

Beta — the excise engine. Excise returns are currently in beta. The federal excise engine is switched off by default while its tax rates and line mapping are being finalised with a compliance expert, so you may not see an Excise returns entry in your navigation yet. When the engine is off, the page opens to The federal excise engine isn't enabled yet rather than the generator. Every return you can generate today is a provisional draft: see the caution under What "provisional" means before you rely on any figure.

The Federal excise returns page generates and reviews TTB Form 5000.24 excise-tax returns for a permit and reporting period. Open it from Excise returns in the Compliance group of the left-hand navigation.

Depending on your plan and permissions, this page may instead show one of these panels, each explaining why and — where relevant — how to unlock it:

• The federal excise engine isn't enabled yet — the engine is still switched off (beta).
• Federal excise returns are a commercial feature — with an Upgrade plan button.
• Federal excise filing needs a plan add-on — with an Upgrade plan button.
• You don't have access to excise returns — ask a workspace admin to grant the compliance-filing draft permission.

What "provisional" means

While the excise engine is in beta, every return it produces is a working draft. A generated return carries a prominent [Verify current] — provisional draft banner and a Provisional badge, and states, verbatim:

This excise return is a working draft, generated from a provisional 5000.24 line map and tax-rate data that has not yet been signed off by a compliance expert. Verify every figure against the current TTB rate schedule before relying on it or filing — do not file this as-is.

Treat the numbers as an estimate to check, not a filing figure. This is separate from the flat-rate excise estimate line in your cost of goods rollup — see COGS and cost views for that.

Generate a return

Before you start: you need a federal (TTB) permit on your workspace. If there are none, the permit picker reads No federal permits on this workspace yet.

1. In the navigation, choose Excise returns.
2. Under Generate a return, choose a Federal permit from the dropdown.
3. Set the Period start and Period end dates. The end must be after the start — if it isn't, you'll see The period end must be after its start. The fields default to the current month.
4. Choose Generate return.
5. When it succeeds, Return generated appears with the provisional-draft banner (see above) and the return's schedule. Choose View full return to open its detail.

If generation is refused, Brewstiller explains why — for example, A 5000.24 return must be generated against a federal (TTB) permit. if you picked a non-federal permit.

Read a return

A return's detail view is headed TTB Form 5000.24 with its status badge, a Provisional badge while it's a draft, and its reporting period. The provisional-draft banner appears at the top whenever the return is still a draft.

• Tax by class & CBMA tier lists each line with its Taxable quantity, Unit, Rate applied, and Tax amount, ending in a Total tax due row. A sub-cent effective rate shows as an em dash (—) rather than a rounded figure. If there were no taxable removals in the period, the card reads No taxable removals in this period and the total is zero.
• Removal events breaks the return down into the individual tax-determined removals behind it — each with when it was Removed, its Tax class, Taxable quantity, and whether it's Reduced rate eligible. Use Previous and Next to page through them.

Open a return from the Generated returns list (below the generator) so its removal drill-down loads. If you reach a return another way, the removals card explains it's scoped to the return's permit and period and points you back to the list.

Find an earlier return

Under Generated returns, the already-generated 5000.24 returns for your workspace are listed by Period, Permit, and Status. Choose View on a row to open that return. If there are none yet, the card reads No excise returns yet.