VAT warehouse abolished in 2026: what spirits businesses need to know

Germany abolished the VAT warehouse on 1 January 2026. The change has been circulating in trade newsletters ever since, usually with the question of whether a spirits business now has a problem. The short answer is no. The longer answer explains why the two warehouse terms have always covered different taxes, and where the change still creates work.

What the VAT warehouse actually was

The VAT warehouse (Umsatzsteuerlager) was a tax exemption rather than a building. Supplies of certain raw commodities stayed free of VAT while the goods sat in a warehouse approved by the tax office (§ 4 Nummer 4a UStG in the version in force until 31 December 2025). Only removal made the last supply before it taxable. The rule was written for bulk commodity trading, where a parcel changes owner several times without ever moving.

Spirits were never on the goods list

Annex 1 to § 4 Nummer 4a UStG listed the eligible goods exhaustively. It ran to 27 positions, from potatoes through coffee, cocoa beans and mineral oils to copper, nickel and tin. Ethyl alcohol and spirits were absent. A condition at the end of the list ruled out bottled goods in any case, because the items could not be put up for supply at the retail stage.

What changed on 1 January 2026

Article 26 of the Annual Tax Act 2024 (Jahressteuergesetz 2024) of 2 December 2024 repealed § 4 Nummer 4a UStG together with Annex 1, with effect from 1 January 2026. The statute now carries only the word weggefallen, meaning repealed, at that point. New entries into an approved warehouse are therefore impossible, and the tax authority withdrew the administrative guidance on the rule at the same time.

The transition period to 30 December 2029

For supplies that were exempt before 1 January 2026, the old law continues to apply until the goods are removed (§ 27 Absatz 40a UStG). Storing and preserving that stock stays exempt up to and including 30 December 2029. At the end of that day, all goods still in the warehouse count as removed. The last supply before removal then becomes taxable, and the remover owes the VAT (Federal Ministry of Finance circular of 29 December 2025).

Who pays when goods leave the warehouse

During the transition it matters who counts as the remover (Auslagerer). As a rule that is whoever causes the removal, meaning whoever takes the goods out of the approved warehouse or has them dispatched. A connection with a supply is not required. If the goods drop out of the procedure through further processing or by lapse of time, the remover is whoever holds the power of disposal at that moment (circular of 29 December 2025).

The remover needs a German VAT identification number and has to register with the tax office for VAT purposes. The last supply before removal becomes taxable, and the tax arises at the end of the return period in which removal took place. The warehouse keeper becomes jointly and severally liable where they fail to record the remover's German VAT identification number, or record it incorrectly, contrary to § 22 Absatz 4c Satz 2 UStG in the version in force until 31 December 2025 (circular of 29 December 2025). Anyone holding old stock should settle these roles in writing before removing anything.

Two warehouse terms, two taxes

The confusion is understandable, because both procedures push a tax into the future and both are called a warehouse in everyday speech. The competent authority, the tax concerned, the eligible goods and the legal basis differ completely. The overview below sets the two instruments side by side, so it is clear which one actually touches your goods.

The mix-up has a real root. Mineral oils appeared on the Annex 1 goods list and are also subject to excise duty, so for energy products the two procedures could overlap. For alcohol products that overlap never existed, because the goods list covered neither raw alcohol nor bottled spirits.

For spirits the relevant mechanism is duty suspension. While goods sit in an authorised tax warehouse (section 4 AlkStG) or move under duty suspension (sections 13 to 16 AlkStG), no alcohol duty arises. It arises on release for consumption, unless a further duty suspension arrangement follows immediately (section 18 (2) no. 1 AlkStG). The rate is 13.03 euro per litre of pure alcohol (section 2 (1) AlkStG).

What to check now

1. Establish whether your company ever used an approved VAT warehouse at all. For bottled spirits it was never available.
2. For old stock, work out when it will be removed and who holds the power of disposal at that point, because that person is the remover (§ 27 Absatz 40a UStG).
3. Keep records and evidence for the whole transition period, because the obligations of the old version continue to apply until removal.
4. Separate VAT and excise duty cleanly in your files, so that queries from the tax office and from the main customs office do not get mixed up.

How to store spirits duty suspended today

For alcohol products the route runs either through your own authorisation as a warehouse keeper (Steuerlagerinhaber) issued by the main customs office (Hauptzollamt), or through a provider who already holds that authorisation. Both keep the duty dormant until the goods actually reach the market.

Import VAT on goods brought in from non-EU countries remains a separate matter, and intra-Community acquisition from other member states follows rules of its own. Neither had anything to do with the VAT warehouse, and the repeal changes nothing about either.

What a warehouse keeper takes on is set out on our bonded warehouse page. If you want to know how your shipments would look inside someone else's tax warehouse, tell us briefly what you store and where the goods go next.

Last updated 21 September 2026. This article is not legal or tax advice.