Beer production legal issues. Do you need a beer license? Without a beer license, but with egais

Beer belongs to the category of alcoholic beverages. This imposes a number of prohibitions and obligations on the activities of stores engaged in their sale, the list of which is determined by regulations. You cannot sell beer at night, or at any time of the day if the buyer is a minor.

Any business begins with obtaining permits

Business entities operating in the beer industry are regularly required to submit declarations indicating sales volumes. Selling alcohol is impossible without permits, so many businessmen have a question about whether a license is needed to sell beer.

The Federal Law regulating the issuance of alcohol licenses contains a clause stating that a permit is required for the production and sale of alcohol-containing beverages. The exception is beer and some other low-alcohol drinks. Therefore, in light of the current legislation, you can be sure that a license to sell beer is not needed. However, there are requirements and restrictions for organizational activities prior to the sale of the drink.

Terms of sale of beer

Since beer is alcohol, its sales must be organized in such a way that the products are not available to the public anywhere and at any time.

The question of how much a beer license costs is not relevant, since this permit is only required for strong drinks, which do not include beer. Legislative restrictions consider enough prohibitions that regulate business without a license.

Restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages are for the benefit of society because they prevent the development of beer alcoholism. This disease can affect all categories of citizens, especially women and children. And if for sellers, selling products in large volumes means profit, then lovers of the foamy drink pay for their excessive use with their health and an incipient sense of addiction.

Where products cannot be sold

Restrictions applied when selling beer

Draft beer can be sold without a license from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. The exception is public catering establishments. It is prohibited to sell alcoholic beverages classified as beer in the following facilities and adjacent areas:

fuel refueling points;
intended for sporting and cultural events;
public transport and its stops;
crowded places;
military;
educational institutions for children;
medical institutions.

Read also: Business activity codes for individual entrepreneurs

Requirements for the place of sale

The place where beer is sold also has special requirements. The product can only be sold in stationary retail establishments. The store building must have a foundation. It is mandatory to include real estate in the registry database.

It is worth noting that temporary structures are not suitable for trade. If the store plans to sell strong and low-alcohol alcoholic beverages, then it should be noted that the area of the premises should be in the range from 25 to 50 square meters, depending on the location of the point of sale in the city or rural area. When selling one beer, there are no restrictions on area.

Selection of clientele

The sale of alcoholic beverages, which includes beer, is prohibited to citizens who have not reached the age of majority. If there is any doubt about the client's age, the merchant must request a document that could confirm the age.

If the seller sold products to a prohibited group of buyers, then not only the negligent seller, but also his manager will be subject to punishment. The seller will pay a fine of 50,000 rubles, and his manager in the status of an individual entrepreneur will pay a fine of 200,000 rubles. If the sales organizer is a legal entity, then the violation will cost its manager 500,000 rubles. In special cases, when the buyer’s age is clearly less than 18 years or the violation was detected again, the seller may face criminal liability.

Legislative innovations

Monitoring activities in the field of production and sales

Since the beginning of 2017, it has been prohibited to pour drinks into plastic containers in production. The draft includes a ban on the wholesale and retail sale of products bottled in plastic containers whose volume exceeds 1.5 liters. In case of violation of legal requirements, individual entrepreneurs should be prepared to pay a fine in the amount of 100,000 to 200,000 rubles. For legal entities, the fine corresponds to 300,000-500,000 rubles.

Control over product sales

Control circuit

The production and circulation of alcohol is controlled by the state service EGAIS. Business entities purchasing goods for the purpose of further retail sale must register in the system and confirm purchases from legal suppliers, who can be manufacturers or intermediaries. EGAIS is not interested in production issues of doing business. The control system does not ask whether beer can be sold without a license. It controls only the legality of supplies, since this category of products is safe for human health when consumed in moderation.

Home page of the official website of EGAIS

By connecting to the service and having previously received an electronic signature, the head of the business entity, who is the buyer, receives an identifying number, which the supplier uses to draw up documentation on the volume of sales of certain products. Information about this event should also be reflected on the service.

In most countries of the world, traditional beer is considered the favorite drink. For this reason, the intoxicating drink is in consistently high consumer demand throughout the year. Therefore, beer production as a business is a very profitable activity. In addition, brewing is considered one of the most ancient ways of earning money. Beer production technology was developed hundreds of years ago. Since then, it has been improved and honed year after year.

Nowadays, beer production is overwhelmingly carried out by large breweries with big names. However, according to many lovers of this intoxicating drink, its quality often does not meet the stated requirements. In addition, unscrupulous producers, trying to maximize the shelf life of the drink, add a “bouquet” of preservatives to it, which negatively affect the taste characteristics of bottled beer.

True beer fans prefer live beer to their draft counterparts. It is produced exclusively by private breweries. The taste of a live intoxicating drink is always fresh and pleasant, because it does not contain preservatives or flavor enhancers. Most entrepreneurs who know what home beer production is say that, despite the high level of competition, the business idea is considered one of the most profitable earning opportunities.

Beer production: a competent business plan

Before starting to implement a business idea, a businessman must develop detailed business plan, having previously analyzed consumer demand in a specific territorial area. A separate item in the plan also includes calculations of the amount of required initial capital, as well as the estimated payback period business ideas for the production and sale of beer.

If we talk about demand in the consumer market, it should be noted that beer is considered the most popular among all alcoholic beverages. The reason for its high popularity can be attributed to its low price and pleasant taste. It should also be noted that in summer the demand for this alcohol increases significantly, however, even in the cold season it remains consistently high, so it is not worth calling beer a seasonal drink.

Considering the fact that it is difficult for a simple entrepreneur who owns a small brewery to compete with large factories that engage in mass production, he should carefully consider the process of selling the prepared drink. However, successful sales can only be achieved if beer production technology is followed, which is best brewed according to a proven recipe. Distinctive taste characteristics will win the hearts of consumers, many of whom will become regular customers.

The business plan is divided into the following stages:

after choosing an idea for starting a business, it is necessary to analyze the consumer market;
Next, the business must go through the official registration process;
calculation of all financial costs associated with starting a business;
selection of suitable premises and conclusion of a lease transaction;
selection of brewing equipment;
identification with the sales market and development of an advertising campaign.

Beer production equipment

In today's market, an entrepreneur will find a wide range of equipment from well-known brands. The most popular products are those from Czech, Russian and Chinese manufacturers of equipment for breweries. Price categories also fluctuate greatly.

Take, for example, equipment from the manufacturer Inyegral-Geha, the capacity of which is equal to a thousand liters per day, costs about 650 thousand dollars, but the Russian-made equivalent from JSC Moskon costs about 170 thousand dollars. To start, it is best for an entrepreneur to purchase a model at an affordable price, but of decent quality. If a businessman does not plan to produce more than one hundred liters of beer per day, he only needs to purchase equipment worth about 900 thousand rubles.

Business registration

If an entrepreneur decides to open a business producing and selling beer, he must register his business in the manner prescribed by law. First, a businessman needs to decide what the material and legal form of his activity will be. It is best to stop at IP. As the official registration process becomes simpler, its pace will increase, and tax payment will be carried out according to a simplified scheme.

If we talk about licensing home beer production, the Russian government annually considers new bills regarding licensing of beer production. Today, a license is not required to produce beer, which greatly simplifies starting a business in this area.

Features of beer production

The brewing process must be supervised by a knowledgeable technologist. The owner may not be directly involved in the process, but he must know the specifics of home beer production.

The entire process includes:

wort preparation;
yeast fermentation;
post-fermentation;
filtration and pasteurization processes;
beer spill.

An entrepreneur should also understand that the most profitable option for delivering a drink is to transport it in kegs. In addition, it is more cost-effective to make a hop drink using malt extract, but not malt. Such a product does not need to be certified; the entrepreneur only needs a conclusion from the SES.

Raw materials and their suppliers

All you need for brewing is hops, water, malt extract and brewer's yeast. You can improve the quality of the drink by using soft water. Raw materials are purchased as follows:

concluding a deal with a partner supplier of the necessary equipment;
purchases from foreign companies;
establishing contacts with large breweries.

Initially, a businessman will need about two million rubles. In this case, the amount of income will be approximately two hundred thousand rubles monthly.

Technological processes

Beer production technology conditionally divided into several stages:

Malt is pre-prepared. To do this, it is necessary to germinate cereal grains, for which it is best to choose barley. They are then drained and also cleared of all sprouts;
The wort is mashed. The malt is now crushed and mixed with purified, softened water, resulting in a sweet wort. A mash is considered to be a composition of water and crushed grain products;
Next, the mash is filtered when it is distilled through specific filters, as a result of which the mixture is split into unhopped beer wort and spent grain;
The wort is boiling. Hops and other ingredients are added to it. This process takes an hour or two in total. During boiling, the hops have time to dissolve, and aromatic components that negatively affect the taste also disappear;
The wort is clarified. The separation of the remaining barley from the hops is carried out in a hydrocyclone, where the wort is transferred. Centrifugal force affects the wort so that the residues are concentrated along the radius of the equipment. Then the wort settles for twenty to thirty minutes and is separated from the sediment;
Wort cooling stage. The wort is transported to a special fermentation tank, where it is saturated with sufficient oxygen and cooled. Preparing to feed the yeast;
Next, brewer's yeast is added to the composition, after which the solution ferments for several weeks. Upon completion of the fermentation process, an opaque liquid is obtained that does not at all resemble beer. Therefore, what follows next is the post-fermentation process, when the intoxicating drink is kept in closed tanks under low pressure of carbon dioxide. The duration of the post-fermentation stage directly depends on the type of intoxicating drink;
Beer can be filtered to remove yeast particles. Most often, this stage is carried out only in industrial brewing. Through the use of filtration, the shelf life of beer is increased, since the microflora of the drink is partially destroyed;
Some types of beer are pasteurized. The pasteurization process, when beer is heated to a temperature of 60 - 80 degrees, also lengthens the shelf life of alcohol. It should be noted that pasteurization negatively affects the taste of the drink.

Hired personnel

It will be quite difficult for an entrepreneur to cope even with a small brewery. It is best to hire qualified workers who must understand how to make the drink. Workers will have complete control over each stage of the technological process. It is advisable to hire a financier who will monitor cash flows. An accountant or lawyer is suitable to perform this function.

To transport the drink, you should purchase a car that will be driven by a driver and a loader. An entrepreneur should also not forget about conducting the right marketing campaign, which is developed by a highly qualified manager.

Initially, the entrepreneur can perform some of the functions independently. However, a businessman should not undertake control of technological processes if he does not have certain skills and knowledge.

Sale of beer

Home-made beer production will be profitable only if the entrepreneur takes care of ways to sell the drink in advance. It should be noted that it is unlikely that a businessman will be able to sell a drink at a favorable price in the initial stages, because the competition will be too high. However, over time, when the beer recipe is in demand, the revenue will increase. Then the entrepreneur will be able to reasonably increase the price.

It is also necessary to remember that the intoxicating drink has a rather short shelf life, so it must be sold almost immediately, until all the beneficial qualities and taste properties disappear. It is best for an entrepreneur to try to conclude long-term deals with local pubs and bars, restaurants and outdoor cafes.

Can an individual entrepreneur start selling beer?

Let us answer right away that individual entrepreneurs have the right to sell beer. Why does this question even arise? Are there any prohibitions on the sale of alcohol related to the legal form of the seller (individual entrepreneur or LLC)? There really is such a ban; it is established by Article 16 of Law No. 171-FZ of November 22, 1995.

According to it, only organizations are allowed to sell strong alcohol. Why this is so is not explained, but the fact remains that only legal entities have the right to trade in strong alcoholic drinks and wines. An exception is made only for individual entrepreneurs - agricultural producers who sell wines and champagne of their own production.

Regarding the sale of beer, the same article states that “Retail sales of beer and beer drinks, cider, poiret, mead are carried out by organizations and individual entrepreneurs.” Please note - this is a retail sale! The fact is that there is also a provision in Article 11 of Law No. 171-FZ, and it allows the wholesale trade of alcohol and beer only to legal entities.

Thus, individual entrepreneurs have the right to sell beer and beer-based drinks only at retail. And in order to produce and sell beer without restrictions, you need to register a company.

Do I need a license to sell beer?

But here everything is simple - a license to sell beer is not required. Again we read Law No. 171-FZ, Article 18 on the issuance: “... with the exception of the production and circulation of beer and beer drinks, cider, poire, mead.” So, selling beer without a license in 2019 does not threaten anything, no sanctions are provided for this. True, certain restrictions and requirements for organizing the sale of beer still exist, and we will talk about them further.

Terms of sale of beer

This is perhaps the most important information that you should familiarize yourself with before organizing a beer trade. Considering that beer is an alcoholic drink, it is understandable that it should not be available at any place and time.

Beer alcoholism develops quickly and unnoticed, which is especially dangerous for children and women. And if for beer traders large sales volumes mean profit, then buyers of the foamy drink pay for their excessive consumption with their health. We must be understanding of the prohibitions established in Article 16 of Law No. 171-FZ; ultimately, they act for the benefit of the entire society.

children's, educational and medical institutions;
sports and cultural facilities;
public transport of all types and its stops;
markets, train stations, airports and other places of mass gathering of citizens (with the exception of catering establishments);
military facilities.

2. Beer can only be sold in stationary retail establishments, so the building must have a foundation and be entered in the real estate register. That is, temporary structures such as stalls and kiosks are not suitable for selling beer, with the exception of catering establishments. As for the area of a retail facility, if, in addition to beer, strong alcohol is sold, then the following restrictions apply:

not less than 50 sq. m. in cities
at least 25 sq. m. in rural areas.

When selling only beer, there are no space restrictions.

3. Beer sales hours are limited to the period from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., except for public catering outlets.

seller - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
official (individual entrepreneur or head of an organization) - from 100 to 200 thousand rubles;
legal entity - from 300 to 500 thousand rubles;

If there is any doubt about the buyer's age, the seller must request identification. In addition, selling beer to minors may result in criminal liability. Please note that police often conduct control raids involving young people in order to provoke such illegal sales. It's better to play it safe and ask for a passport, even if the buyer looks old enough.

5. From January 1, 2017, the production and wholesale trade is prohibited, and from July 1, 2017, the retail sale of beer bottled in plastic containers with a volume of more than 1.5 liters is prohibited. Fines for violation: from 100 to 200 thousand rubles for individual entrepreneurs and from 300 to 500 thousand rubles for legal entities.

6. Additional restrictions on the sale of beer may be established by local authorities. Thus, in many municipalities the sale of beer is prohibited in retail outlets located in multi-apartment residential buildings. We recommend that before you start selling beer, you find out all the rules from the local administration or the Federal Tax Service.

EGAIS - beer sales

EGAIS is a state system for monitoring the production and circulation of alcohol. Is EGAIS needed to sell beer? Yes, of course, but in a limited format. Organizations and individual entrepreneurs purchasing beer for further retail sale are required to connect to the system only to confirm purchases of wholesale quantities from legal manufacturers and suppliers.

To connect to EGAIS, you need to obtain a special electronic signature and register on the official website of Rosalkogolregulirovanie. We talked in detail about how to do this. After registering in the system, the buyer receives his identification number (ID), and the supplier issues invoices for him, reflecting them in the Unified State Automated Information System. After the consignment of goods is accepted by the buyer, the supplier writes off the delivered products from its balances in the Unified State Automated Information System, and it is recorded for the buyer.

Confirmation of the fact of sale of each bottle of beer, as is the case with strong alcohol and wine, is not required, so trade in beer through EGAIS is easier to register than other alcoholic beverages. The main thing here is to confirm that the wholesale batch of beer was purchased legally.

Please note that selling beer without a cash register is punishable separately under Article 14.5 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation:

for individual entrepreneurs and heads of organizations - from ¼ to ½ of the settlement amount, but not less than 10,000 rubles;
for organizations - from ¾ to the full amount of the settlement amount, but not less than 30,000 rubles.

New OKVED codes for beer trade

Please note that when registering individual entrepreneurs and LLCs, only the classifier is used. To indicate activities related to beer trade, use the new 2019 OKVED codes.

For wholesale beer trade:

46.34.2: Wholesale trade in alcoholic beverages, including beer and food grade ethyl alcohol;
46.34.23: Wholesale trade in beer;
46.17.23: Activities of agents in the wholesale trade of beer.

For beer retail:

47.25.1: Retail sale of alcoholic beverages, including beer, in specialized stores;
47.25.12: Retail sale of beer in specialized stores.
47.11.2: Retail trade of non-frozen products, including drinks and tobacco products, in non-specialized stores;

For selling beer in public catering:

56.30: activities of bars, taverns, cocktail lounges, discos and dance floors (with predominant service of drinks), beer bars, buffets, herbal bars, drinks vending machines.

Important: if you registered an individual entrepreneur or LLC before July 11, 2016, then you do not need to make any changes to the codes; the Federal Tax Service will independently correlate your old and new OKVED codes entered in the registers.

But if you decide to start selling beer after mid-2016, and the corresponding codes were not entered immediately upon registration, then you must report the new type of activity using forms (for individual entrepreneurs) and P13001 or P14001 (). In this case, indicate the codes according to OKVED-2, as indicated above.

Reporting on beer sales

From January 1, 2016, sellers of alcoholic beverages, including beer, are required to keep a log of retail sales. The form of the journal and the procedure for filling it out are approved by Order No. 164 of Rosalkogolregulirovanie dated June 19, 2015.

The log must be filled out daily, no later than the next day after the sale of each container or package of alcohol, including beer. At the end of each day, fill in sales data: name, product type code, volume and quantity. This is what a sample journal looks like, posted on the website of the state organization FSUE "CenterInform", which issues an electronic signature for connecting to the Unified State Automated Information System.

For the absence of a journal or its incorrect maintenance, a fine is imposed - from 10 to 15 thousand rubles for individual entrepreneurs and from 150 to 200 thousand rubles for organizations.

In addition, based on the results of each quarter, no later than the 20th day of the next month (April 20, July, October, January, respectively), it is necessary to submit a declaration on beer turnover to the Rosalkogolregulirovanie in form No. 12. The declaration form and the rules for filling it out were approved by the Government Resolution dated August 9, 2012 No. 815.

Let's summarize:

Not only organizations, but also individual entrepreneurs can sell beer, however, only retail trade for final consumption is allowed for them.
A license to sell beer is not required.
Take into account the legal restrictions on place, time and range of customers when selling beer.
It is impossible to legally purchase a batch of beer for further sale without connecting to EGAIS, so you must register on the Rosalkogolregulirovanie website. After this, the system will need to confirm the fact of purchasing a batch each time and reflect the remaining product.
From March 31, 2017, the sale of beer, including in public catering, is possible only with the use of a cash register, regardless of the tax regime.
Since July 11, 2016, only OKVED-2 is used for registration purposes. Indicate OKVED codes for the sale of beer from our selection, they correspond to the current classifier.
Keep a record book for alcohol retail and submit beer sales declarations in a timely manner.