§5612 — Title 26 Internal Revenue Code | U.S. Code

§5612 Forfeiture of Taxpaid Distilled Spirits Remaining on Bonded Premises

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle E— Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › Chapter 51— DISTILLED SPIRITS, WINES, AND BEER › Subchapter J— Penalties, Seizures, and Forfeitures Relating to Liquors › Part I— PENALTY, SEIZURE, AND FORFEITURE PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO DISTILLING, RECTIFYING, AND DISTILLED AND RECTIFIED PRODUCTS › § 5612

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Distilled spirits on which the tax has already been paid cannot be stored or left on the bonded premises of a distilled spirits plant; any found there are forfeited. This does not apply to spirits in the process of prompt removal after the tax is paid, or to spirits properly returned to bonded premises.

Title 26, §5612

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)No distilled spirits on which tax has been paid or determined shall be stored or allowed to remain on the bonded premises of any distilled spirits plant, under the penalty of forfeiture of all spirits so found.

(b)Subsection (a) shall not apply in the case of—

(1)distilled spirits in the process of prompt removal from bonded premises on payment or determination of the tax; or

(2)distilled spirits returned to bonded premises in accordance with the provisions of section 5215.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 5612, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 685, related to penalty for using material or removing spirits without supervision, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859. See section 5687 of this title. Provisions similar to those comprising subsec. (a) of this section were contained in prior section 5625, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 688, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.

Amendments

1979—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–39 redesignated subpars. (2) and (3) as (1) and (2), respectively, and struck out former subpars. (1) and (4) which excepted distilled spirits which were bottled in bond under section 5233 of this title and which were returned to bonded premises for rebottling, relabeling, or restamping in accordance with subsec. (d) of section 5233, and excepted such spirits, held on bonded premises, on which the tax had become payable by operation of law, but on which the tax had not been paid.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–39 effective Jan. 1, 1980, see section 810 of Pub. L. 96–39, set out as a note under section 5001 of this title. Suspension of Subsection (a) During 1980 Pub. L. 96–39, title VIII, § 808(c)(1), July 26, 1979, 93 Stat. 291, set out as a note under section 5061 of this title, provided that subsec. (a) of this section was not to apply during 1980.