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Alcohol Wholesale Registration Scheme (AWRS) – Inactive Government Gateway Account Deletions

By 27/10/2020November 15th, 2020No Comments

In the coming months HMRC is deleting Government Gateway Accounts that have inactive for 3 years, to help us safeguard customer data.

Unlike some Government Gateway services, such as Corporation Tax and VAT, with the AWRS there is requirement to periodically log on to the online service, for example to submit returns. Therefore, there is a risk that some active businesses, with the AWRS only Government Gateway Accounts, will not have logged on to the service within the last three years and will therefore have their gateway account deleted.

Without Government Gateway access to the AWRS service, businesses will be unable to fulfil the requirements of Excise Notice 2002, section 10.4, to notify HMRC of changes to their business details and ultimately could be liable to a regulatory penalty as set out in Excise Notice 2002, Section 17.

It is important to note that businesses that do have their AWRS Government Gateway Account deleted will still be approved as an AWRS trader and will continue to appear on the AWRS Online Lookup Service.

Action to take

To avoid online accounts being deleted, we are approaching you as an Industry Trade Body/Tax Advisor representing excise businesses, many of whom are approved under the AWRS, to pass on the following messages to your clients/members:

  • Please ensure you log into your AWRS Government Gateway Account as soon as possible and before October 31 2020 to avoid your online account being deleted. There is no requirement to change the details held.
  • If you have changes to report, for example, a change to your phone number, email address, trading name, VAT number, or trading premises, then you should submit a variation to your AWRS approval. See Excise Notice, section 10.4 for further information.

Next steps

After your clients/members log on to their AWRS Government Gateway Account before the 31 October 2020, we recommend that they log into their account at least every 12 months.

If your clients/members do not log on to their AWRS Government Gateway Account and subsequently have their online account deleted, then they must contact HMRC Online Services. HMRC Online Services will arrange for the AWRS Government Gateway Account to be reinstated.