Excise taxes are taxes on the manufacture of certain consumer products levied by each member state on its territory independently and according to a variety of criteria. The most common are those applied to alcohol and all products made from it (wine, beer, super alcohols etc.) or to petroleum and all its derivatives for energy production (gasoline, diesel, methane, butane, kerosene etc.) or to tobacco and all its derivatives.
Excise taxes apply to both EU raw materials/products and those imported from outside the EU; they are not duties, but when they affect imported goods they are considered customs charges and are therefore levied at the time of the customs transaction.
For the past few years, excise taxes applied to trade in alcoholic beverages within the EU have been regulated (e.g., Italy has had a Consolidated Text on Excise Taxes that implements EU regulations). Specifically, the regulations require all alcohol products to be escorted by a document called a DAA (Excise Accompanying Document).
Under the regulations, excise duty is not levied on goods leaving the territory of the state and a document called DAA (Document Accompanying Excise Duty) is issued to escort the goods in order to prove their exit. When this document arrives at its destination along with the goods, it is taken over by the controlling office, which sends a copy back to the office of departure as proof that the goods have left the state of origin.
When the excise tax has already been paid in the country of departure, the DAS is issued, which is intended to inform the authorities in the country of destination that the goods may be subject to the tax.
Excise goods can only be stored in special warehouses called Excise Tax Warehouses and only the holder of this type of warehouse can issue and receive the AAD.
