The permit authorizes the manufacturer or supplier to

• handle tobacco products or substitutes for tobacco products
• substitutes for tobacco products tax-free or with suspension of tax.

If you belong to one of the following groups of people under excise duty law, you require a permit to handle untaxed tobacco products:

• "Tax warehouse holder: you operate a tax warehouse for untaxed tobacco products or substitutes for tobacco products. A tax warehouse is a location approved by the main customs office where you store the goods under tax suspension.
  • manufacture,
  • process,
  • process or
  • may store them.

Please also note:

• If you only want to store tobacco products or substitutes for tobacco products in the tax warehouse but not manufacture them, you must be authorized to obtain tax stamps or only supply untaxed tobacco products or substitutes for tobacco products in a tax suspension procedure. You must purchase tax stamps from the main customs office in Bielefeld, affix a corresponding cancelation note and affix them to the packaging of tobacco products.
• "Registered consignee": You receive tobacco products with German tax stamps. The tobacco products are transported under suspension of tobacco tax.
• "registered consignor": After an import, you send goods for which the tobacco tax is suspended from the place of import to authorized recipients in Germany or other countries of the European Union, a tax warehouse.
• "User": You use tobacco products or substitutes for tobacco products outside the tax warehouse, for example.
  • for commercial purposes, except for smoking and the manufacture of tobacco products.
  • for scientific purposes, for experiments.

In all cases, you require a written permit from the main customs office responsible for you. Permission will be granted upon application. The competent main customs office can revoke the permit.

You must submit the application using an officially prescribed form.

Before issuing a permit, the tax authorities generally check whether certain requirements are met, for example with regard to

• tax reliability,
• bookkeeping and
• the technical equipment in your business.

The check may relate to you personally, for example as managing director, or to other tax-relevant persons in your business.

The locally competent main customs office may require you to provide a security deposit.