if i were to make mead and sell it like my honey to friends am i duty bound to tell HM customs and pay excise duty on it?
HMRC make the whole process of getting a licence and starting production very simple for small wineries.
As detailed in this short note from the ever friendly HMRC:
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...nt&id=HMCE_PROD1_029568&propertyType=document
To get the licence, you are expected to have bonded premises to store your produced wine. And register all the equipment used for production. And produce monthly returns of the amount produced and the amount that leaves the bonded warehouse together with the duty payable. And produce audited accounts of all the finances.
And you will need to get the ABV alcohol content tested and certified. And produce labels with the 'units of alcohol' information and a lot of other stuff.
http://www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/sectorrules/winestandards/lawguide is a potential place to start and suggests a little light reading to get you started:
* Trade Descriptions Act 1968
* Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
* Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979
* Weights and Measures Act 1985
* Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 2006
* Weights and Measures (Specified Quantities) 2009
* Food Safety Act 1990
* Trade Marks Act 1994
* Food Labelling Regulations 1996
* Food (Lot Marking) Regulations 1996
* Licencing Act 2003
While you're registering with HMRC, Environmental Health and Trading Standards you might as well register as a business. And pay business rates. And register for VAT. And pay income tax on any money you take out. You will also need to make pension provision for any employees
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Seriously, there are massive bureaucratic steps in producing alcohol that are just not there with selling a few jars of honey or veg from your garden. Anything outside a bonded warehouse needs the duty paid up front for a start. And you don't even get the duty rate concessions that micro-breweries do for beer. There are wineries who will produce wine from your ingredients,
http://beckhousewinery.co.uk/DutyFreeWine.aspx which gets round some of the regulation but they insist that it is not for sale. Producing for sale on a scale short of a full time job is unlikely to be worthwhile for wineries or breweries,
http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/12/09/2006/97733/So-you-want-to.Start-an-on-farm-brewery.htm largely because there is a minimum effort needed to get though the paperwork requirements that have accumulated over the years.
Selling booze without going through the full procedures is also far less likely to be tolerated than selling something like honey. You only have to look at cases where 'duty free' rules have not been followed on aircraft or ships. Take even part empty bottles for personal consumption and that's instant dismissal, no appeal.
On the brighter side, there is nothing to stop you giving it away.