What does a tax warehouse cost? The four drivers of a quote

Ask what a tax warehouse costs and you rarely get a number back. That sounds evasive and has a factual reason behind it. A tax warehouse sells a sequence of operations rather than floor space, and only the customer knows how many of those there will be. Supply the four figures below and you get a firm calculation instead of a range.

Why the price follows your own pattern

Two companies with identical annual volume can end up far apart. One brings in two full loads a year and calls them off in large blocks. The other delivers two pallets a month and ships small quantities to four countries every week. The second pattern produces many times the number of operations. A flat price would have to cover the worst case and would be too expensive for everyone else.

Drivers 1 and 2: pallets and frequency

The pallet count sets the volume dependent part. It works three times over, at unloading and putaway, at picking and loading, and across the whole storage period at the rack space. The relationship is linear, so twice the pallets means twice the amount. Format matters too. Pallets that are overheight or overweight need special locations and will not fit every rack.

Frequency sets how often the one-off items fall due. Every delivery triggers a full goods receipt, meaning inspection, reconciliation against the accompanying documents, damage records and the completion of the excise and customs formalities on entry. Every outbound movement triggers a declaration. Ten small shipments therefore cost noticeably more than one large one carrying the same quantity.

Driver 3: how long the goods sit

Dwell time is the largest single item in normal storage, because it is the only figure that keeps running daily. Every other item falls once per shipment, whereas storage is charged per pallet and per day. Leave a shipment standing for four weeks and you pay several times what the same quantity costs as a cross dock movement. Without this figure, any calculation is guesswork.

Dwell time works in two directions, though. Every storage day costs money, yet it also holds the alcohol duty back, because the duty only arises on removal for consumption (section 18 (2) no. 1 AlkStG). A pallet carrying 100.8 litres of pure alcohol ties up roughly 1,313 euro of duty that nobody pays while the goods stay inside the procedure. Set the storage days against the cash benefit of that deferral before you treat dwell time as a pure cost driver.

Driver 4: where the goods go next

Each destination triggers a different procedure. A movement under duty suspension to another member state (section 15 AlkStG) requires an electronic administrative document (section 29 AlkStV) and the consignee's report of receipt (section 33 AlkStV). An export to a non-EU country (section 16 AlkStG) additionally requires an export declaration and proof that the goods actually left. A release for the German market requires the duty calculation and the return to the main customs office (Hauptzollamt) under section 19 AlkStG. The effort differs considerably between these routes.

What else moves the invoice

Beyond the four drivers sit items that only appear in certain patterns. Shipments carrying many different products or lots create more checking and documentation work than a single product pallet. Shortened handling times tie up staff outside the normal sequence. And where the warehouse keeper advances duty or customs charges on your behalf, that advance usually carries a commission, which falls away when you reimburse promptly.

One-off, there is also the setup, meaning customer records, master data, review of your documents and registration of your procedures. That item is small against the running invoice, but it should be visible when you compare offers, because not every provider shows it separately.

The four drivers at a glance

The table below puts the four figures side by side, so you can see which of them scales with volume and which with the number of operations. Treat it as a checklist before you ask for a quote, because every figure you leave out forces the provider to assume the least favourable case.

How a quote comes together

1. You state pallets per shipment, frequency across the year, planned dwell time and the destination of the outbound goods.
2. The warehouse keeper scales the volume dependent items, meaning putaway, storage days and loading.
3. On top come the per operation items for each receipt and each dispatch, depending on the procedure chosen.
4. Particulars are added, for example oversize pallets, many separate lines per shipment or shortened handling times.
5. The result is a typical monthly invoice you can set against your own calculation.

Where the alcohol duty belongs

A frequent error is to look for alcohol duty inside the storage costs. It is a charge payable to the main customs office and amounts to 1,303 euro per hectolitre of pure alcohol (section 2 (1) AlkStG). While the goods sit in the tax warehouse, it does not arise. Only removal for consumption triggers it (section 18 (2) no. 1 AlkStG), and the return follows by the tenth day of the next month (section 19 (1) AlkStG). The entry on alcohol duty covers the arithmetic.

That is why the order matters. First the four figures, then the number. Which services arise in the first place is set out on our bonded warehouse page. Send us your pallet count, frequency, dwell time and destination, and we will calculate a typical shipment for you.

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