Alcohol Reporting Frequently Asked Questions

The report is due on the 25th of the month after the reporting month (for example, April 25 for March activity). If the 25th is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the next business day is the due date.

Alcohol reports must be filed electronically using the Comptroller's Retail Inventory Tracking System (RITS).

No. But there are substantial penalties for not filing by the due date, or for filing a report determined to be incomplete.

The report must include all sales from each outlet (permitted business location), and each outlet must be identified by a separate Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) permit or license number.

Additionally, the report must include:

• Seller's TABC permit or license number for each separate location making a retail sale;
• Retailer's name and physical address (street name and number, city, state and ZIP);
• Retailer's taxpayer number assigned by the Comptroller;
• Beverage class of the product sold to the retailer (DS, W, B, ML only);
• Universal Product Code (UPC) of the product sold to the retailer;
• Brand name of the product sold to the retailer;
• Container size of the product sold to the retailer;
• Number of containers sold to the retailer for each brand, UPC and container size; and
• Total selling price of all containers listed on each report line (not the per unit price).

A report is incomplete if the Comptroller finds, in an audit review or examination of any type, that the reporting entity failed to substantially comply with the requirements of the law.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• omitting a field required to be reported under Tax Code Section 151.462;
• submitting invalid data in a required field (for example, submitting "99999" in UPC fields); and
• consolidating sales under a single TABC permit or license when the reporting entity holds and makes sales under multiple TABC permits.

Two types of civil penalties will be imposed if a report is filed after the due date or is determined to be incomplete:

• A $50 penalty for each report filed after the due date (Tax Code Section 151.703(d)).
• A civil penalty between $25 and $2,000 per day (Tax Code Section 151.468(b)). The current civil penalty is $500 for the first day and $25 per day thereafter until a complete report is filed.

A reporting entity may also be subject to a criminal penalty for refusing to furnish a report.

Yes. If a civil penalty is imposed and remains unpaid, the Comptroller can:

• file a lien or freeze assets to secure payment of the unpaid penalty
• suspend or cancel sales tax permits issued to the reporting entity
• notify the TABC of a reporting entity's failure to file a report, and the TABC may take administrative actions against the reporting entity under the Alcoholic Beverage Code

Yes, information in these reports is confidential except for the limited disclosure provided in Tax Code Section 111.006, subsections (h) and (i). Those sections require the Comptroller to disclose information to certain persons regarding net sales by quantity, brand and size. The persons authorized to request this information must hold a specific permit or license type under the Alcoholic Beverage Code, and can only request information regarding the sale of a product they distribute.