IS this legal? Online spirit purchase

[votking]

In addition to the advice already given, here is some extraneous information regarding the NY state liquor tax system. This particular page seems to be a good starting point, but the web underneath truly runs deep.

http://www.tax.ny.gov/bus/bev/abt.htm

The regulation and taxation of alcohol and tobacco (sin tax) is a significant source of revenue for most states, and bootlegging laws are in place to protect that revenue stream. This is why it's always wise to err on the side of caution, as possession of untaxed and/or imported liquor may have consequences, and certainly the act of shipping untaxed spirits interstate is frowned upon in most places.

My question still stands. I was afraid by the response that other concerns have come the the front. It seems now it is legal to import as I have which became a concern as a result of the unclear answer from the NYSLA. Is it meaning that the seller is not licensed in NY potentially to have shipments sent back?

 

[quincy]

My question still stands. I was afraid by the response that other concerns have come the the front. It seems now it is legal to import as I have which became a concern as a result of the unclear answer from the NYSLA. Is it meaning that the seller is not licensed in NY potentially to have shipments sent back?

I don't know what the status of the retailer is or what the NYSLA was referring to. The emailed response, in fact, seems to have confused rather than clarified.

In addition, the tax information provided by single317dad, which is certainly a lot easier to read and understand than the ABC law, seems to contradict NY Code Section 102, which states that "... no alcoholic beverage shall be shipped into the state unless the same shall be consigned to a person duly licensed hereunder to traffic in alcoholic beverages. This prohibition shall apply to all shipments of alcohol ..."

But that section also includes a lot of exceptions.

It is a bit amazing to me that the tax information is clearer than the ABC law.

You can wait for YAG to post. I would probably trust YAG's response over the NYSLA at this point. I would try to lure YAG here faster with an offer of distilled spirits, but I am afraid delivery from FA to NYC could be a problem.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Sorry for the delay, these rehab meetings always take longer than you think.

Anyway, the ABC law is a mess on its own. (The email response they sent is great proof of that). Throw in tax law and I'd rather castrate myself with a blender than try to sort the whole thing out. My curiosity just doesn't have the pep it once did.

So rather than try to figure out how the two are intertwined to the point of any legal certainty, I'd look for the easy way out instead. How about we find someone we don't like and ask them to ship the bottle back?

I will note that come the holiday season, I have heard of several law firms who overnight bottles of wine to their big clients as a gift. Which, if these wholly unsubstantiated rumors are true, would lead me to suspect that enforcement of the rule prohibiting shipping of booze is not strictly enforced. As someone astutely noted above, the state, with its limited resources, is probably going to want to focus their efforts on those with the greatest return, like someone regularly shipping hundreds of cases, and not some poor schlub who is trying to return one bottle that was incorrectly shipped.

(Incidentally, how much are we talking here? If this is a $20 bottle of wine, I doubt the CA retailer is going to care much if they ever see it again.)