Excise Movement Guarantee (EMG) requirements are changing.
All excise duty suspended movements that currently take place within the UK should be covered by an EMG (except for bulk movements of fuel by sea or pipeline, and dispatches from UK alcohol production premises to other UK tax warehouses).
What is changing
From 7 July 2025 an EMG will no longer be required by HMRC when excise duty suspended goods are moving between any UK tax warehouses. This is on the basis that the dispatching warehousekeeper is prepared to accept liability for the excise duty during the excise duty suspended movement. This aligns with the rules that are currently in place for when excise duty suspended goods are being dispatched from UK tax warehouses approved as UK alcohol production premises to other UK tax warehouses.
This change will not remove EMGs completely but will allow the dispatching warehousekeeper greater flexibility in deciding whether they need to provide the guarantee when excise duty suspended goods are being dispatched from their UK tax warehouse.
This change does not impose any additional liability on the dispatching warehousekeeper. Under current rules, if there’s no guarantee in place when excise duty suspended goods are dispatched from a UK tax warehouse, the dispatching warehousekeeper is liable for the duty if an irregularity occurs during the movement (such as the goods going missing). There is no change to this rule.
If the dispatching warehousekeeper is not prepared to accept liability for the excise duty during the excise duty suspended movement, they will need to ensure that an EMG is being provided by either the owner of the goods, the transporter, or the receiving UK warehousekeeper.
What you need to do
You do not need to do anything to prepare for this change. However, if you are a dispatching warehousekeeper with an existing EMG, you may wish to consider cancelling your guarantee if you are content for excise duty suspended goods to be removed from your tax warehouse without a guarantee, and you are prepared to accept liability for any excise duty that may become due on the goods during the movement.
An EMG is still required when excise duty suspended goods are moving within the UK prior to export or when they are being dispatched from Northern Ireland to the European Union (except for bulk movements of fuel by sea or pipeline).
