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Federal permits

Add, edit, archive and restore the federal (TTB) permits your workspace files under, and see how the plan limit applies.

Commercial plans

Commercial plan. Federal permits belong to commercial workspaces. A hobby workspace doesn't file federal forms, so it has no permits and no Federal permits entry in the navigation. If you open the page by its address on a hobby workspace, it explains that this is a commercial feature.

A federal permit is the TTB credential your workspace files under: a Brewer's Notice, a bonded wine premises registration (a bonded winery or a bonded wine cellar), or a distilled spirits plant registration. Excise returns and TTB filings are generated for a permit, and a commercial workspace needs one before it can generate either. The Federal permits page is where you record it.

Open it from Federal permits in the Settings group of the left-hand navigation. The page lists your live permits — each with its type, number, holder, premises address, and effective and expiry dates — and, below them, a collapsed Archived section.

Who can add and change permits

Adding, editing, archiving and restoring a permit needs the workspace-settings permission (Owner or Admin). Everyone else on a commercial workspace can read the list, with no action buttons, under the note Only a workspace Owner or Admin can add or change federal permits. A Manager who files forms picks from the permits that are already there.

An archived workspace is read-only for everyone, Owner included: the list is still shown, because the filings you keep point at those permits, but nothing can be added or changed.

Add a permit

  1. In the navigation, choose Federal permits. If your workspace has none, the page reads No federal permits yet.
  2. Choose Add permit.
  3. Choose the Permit type: TTB Brewer's Notice, TTB Bonded wine premises, or TTB Distilled Spirits Plant. A brewery that also holds a distilled spirits plant registration enters two permits, one of each type.
  4. Enter the Permit number as it appears on your TTB credential. The field's example changes with the type; see Permit number formats below.
  5. Enter the Holder name — the name on the TTB credential.
  6. Enter the Premises street address, an optional second line, the City, the State, an optional ZIP code, and the Country code (preselected to US). Brewstiller saves the address as a premises address and links the permit to it.
  7. Set the Effective date. The Expiry date is optional — many credentials, such as a Brewer's Notice or a distilled spirits plant registration, don't expire. If you give one it must be after the effective date.
  8. Choose Add permit. You'll see Federal permit added. and the permit appears in the list.

If the save doesn't complete — a dropped connection, say — press Add permit again. Brewstiller recognises the retry and doesn't add the permit twice.

Permit number formats

Type the number as printed; Brewstiller trims it, upper-cases it, and refuses spaces inside it. A number has a prefix that depends on the type, a two-letter state, and then a tail of letters and digits (extra segments separated by hyphens are fine):

Type Prefix Example
TTB Brewer's Notice BR BR-CO-12345
TTB Bonded wine premises BWN (bonded winery), BWC (bonded wine cellar) or BW (older form) BWN-CA-12345
TTB Distilled Spirits Plant DSP DSP-KY-12345

If the number doesn't fit, the Permit number field says why — for instance This permit type takes a number starting with BR. for a Brewer's Notice, or that the state isn't a recognised two-letter code. Only one live permit can use a given number; entering one that's already on file reads A live permit already uses the number …. An archived permit doesn't block its number from being entered again.

Edit a permit

  1. On the permit's card, choose Edit. (Permits recorded before this screen existed with another type, or not under TTB, are marked Read-only and have no Edit; you can still archive a TTB one.)
  2. Change the number, holder, address or dates. The Permit type is shown but can't be changed — to change it, archive the permit and add a new one.
  3. Fill in Reason for change. Every one of these values prints on a federal form, so a change needs a reason; it's kept with the audit record. Save permit stays greyed out until you have given one.
  4. Choose Save permit. You'll see Federal permit saved.

Only the fields you changed are saved. If someone else changed the permit while you had it open, you'll see This permit changed since you opened it. — the page reloads, and you can open Edit again on the latest values.

Archive a permit

Archive a permit you no longer use, or one entered by mistake.

  1. On the permit's card, choose Archive.
  2. Give a Reason for archiving, then choose Archive permit.

Archiving never deletes anything. Filings, excise returns and gauge records you've already generated under the permit keep working, and the permit stays on file with the reason you gave. What changes is that new batches can no longer be assigned to it, and it stops counting toward your plan's permit limit.

Restore a permit

  1. Open the Archived section — choose its header (it shows a count, such as Archived (1)) to expand it.
  2. On the permit's card, choose Restore, give a Reason for restoring, and choose Restore permit.

A restored permit counts toward your plan's limit again, and its number must not be in use by another live permit; if it is, Brewstiller says so and asks you to archive the other one first.

The plan limit

Your plan allows a set number of federal permits, counting live TTB permits only (archived ones don't count). Each plan has a soft limit and a hard limit. The Commercial Free and Starter plans take two permits with no notice — enough for a brewery with a distillery on the same site — allow a third with a warning, and refuse a fourth. Commercial Growth takes five before it warns and ten at most; Commercial Enterprise has no limit.

  • When a new permit takes you past your plan's soft limit, it's still added, and a warning toast tells you you're over it.
  • At the plan's hard limit, Add permit (and Restore permit) is refused with You've reached your plan's federal permit limit. Archive a permit you no longer use, or change your plan under Billing and plan management.