Buying Alcohol from EU (online)

I have had alcohol seized when purchasing from France, and from Belgium.

This is the letter I received in regards to 2 bottles from France.

"Dear Sir,

The Revenue Commissioners wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent notice of claim, in respect of the above seizure.

There is no relief due on unaccompanied alcohol, that enters the State via the postal system or by courier, unless evidence is provided that excise duty and Irish Vat have been secured prior to the alcohol arriving into the country. 

Having reviewed your case, the Commissioners are willing, without prejudice, to release the whiskey to you on payment of duties and taxes owing.

The total amount due to Revenue is €41.10 – (Excise Duty €29.79 and VAT €11.31). Payment is by Bank Draft or Postal Order and should be made payable to the Revenue Commissioners.

If you wish to avail of this offer please send payment for €41.10 to the undersigned and I will request my colleagues in the Dublin Parcel Hub to release the whiskey.

Please quote the above seizure number and provide your PPS number when replying.

Alternatively If you are registered for ROS or My Account with Revenue, it may be possible to make the payment on either of those systems.

If you are registered for either I have attached an instruction above, detailing how to make a payment by ROS or My ACCOUNT.

If you successfully make the payment, using one of these two systems, please e-mail me the confirmation with a reference number and I will get an officer in the Dublin Parcel Hub to release the whiskey to you.

The Commissioners wish to inform you that similar leniency may not be shown where future importations of excisable products are detected."

Once the duty was paid, it was released back to An Post for delivery.

However, as far as I know, it is at their discretion whether or not to allow you to pay the tax. They can just destroy it. As you have to supply your PPS number, if you are doing it regularly, they may not give you the option.

You can be lucky. I placed 2 orders with LMDW in France on the same day. One got through with no hassle, the other got stopped.

what do you think is likely to happen. Sounds like you have heard of cases like this before, have you?

I am obviously talking of private individuals ordering amounts for personal use as described in this thread.

Prosecute for illegal importation would be the ultimate if you kept doing it.

Very likely on a second capture, it'll be destroyed rather than any offer to be let pay the tax.

You've got to love the explanation on the "Is this legal?" page!

[quote]So you are sitting for example in a coffee shop in Germany having one of those world-class coffees they have (not!), wondering how disgusting and boring that **** is while you waste an incredible amount of time just scrolling through Facebook watching silly puppy cats. Then you have the greatest idea of the week: pouring some booze in that **** you are drinking and making something out of your day![/quote]

Yes but for how long.......they will soon be gone if they are having to pay up! Imagine if the lot was seized! Having said that, it is their business how they run the shop so presumably they will continue to ship while they are making money on Irish sales . Time will tell.

I'd love to order something from the Shlenkerla Brewery in Bamburg but they definitely have the beer art on their boxes so probably a bad idea...

Not sure about Yoyo but I got 2 slabs delivered yesterday. Not sure how long it will last though before a crackdown.

I’ve ordered from beerrepublic.de 5 or 6 times. My last order at the start of December got “seized” and I had to pay excise on it. The letter was worded quite strongly though and stated that they could destroy if they wanted and that they were giving me the option to pay this time. However, they were of the opinion that I had already broken the law and I was lucky they were being lenient.

I want to order again now from them, the beers I’ll be getting will be ones not available elsewhere in Ireland so I don’t mind paying the excise on them… but I just don’t know how to do it. If I place the order and then contact Revenue to make the payment myself would that be allowable?

Not sure why anyone would let a neighbour use their name and address to import illegal alcohol tbh. They could have just ordered it under their own name and taken the chance like the rest of us here did when doing it. Most likely be ok and it will either be destroyed or tax and duty will need paying if they are willing to release it. Just be hopeful they don't decide someone was taking the piss trying that and take it further.