The Joint Alcohol Anti-Fraud Taskforce has published their 2015 annual report, outlining the progress being made by the task force in tackling the illicit alcohol trade.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The work of the task force is essential in the fight against the illicit alcohol trade, which costs around £1.3bn a year in lost revenue every year. Retailers who sell illicit alcohol are damaging legitimate businesses. Our position on these retailers is clear – they should lose their alcohol licence.”
The report outlined the following areas as priorities for the coming year:
- working together to increase the accuracy of tax gap estimates, and to develop wider indicators of harm caused by illicit trading
- implementation of anti-fraud education plans for key industry sectors
- communications to support particular initiatives e.g. AWRS
- exchange of data to inform actions to stop fraud
- improvements to track and trace processes between HMRC and alcohol producers
- further exploration of innovative technology solutions to fraud; and
- rolling out best practise in local enforcement nationally
From October this year, wholesalers will have to register with HMRC to be able to sell alcohol. These plans may also affect retailers who sell alcohol to other businesses. More information on the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme is available here: https://www.gov.uk/the-alcohol-wholesaler-registration-scheme-awrs
ACS is part of the Joint Alcohol Anti-Fraud Taskforce, and will continue to work with Government and other stakeholders to look at ways to tackle the illicit trade in alcohol.
