[dhacker]

I was contemplating how much brewing it takes to hit the 200 gallon annual (legal) limit. Has anyone ever accomplished that? Bear with me here . .

I ask because time lines are important. Is it per calendar year, or from the time you make a batch? For a hypothetical example . . Starting January 1st 2009 through December 31st I brewed 100 gallons all of which was before August 1st. By August 1st of 2010 I've brewed another 200 gallons . . . but 100 gallons of that was during the winter months of '10. Could I retro that 1st 100 gallons of '10 back to call it 200 gallons from August '09 to August '10 and still be able to make another 100 gallons before December 31st 2010?

Don't let yer brains explode!!

 
     

[bobburchler]

It's 100 gallons per person or 200 gallons per household ( 2+ adults) each calendar year. You can't slide the 12 month period. 

[dak0415]

I was contemplating how much brewing it takes to hit the 200 gallon annual (legal) limit. Has anyone ever accomplished that? Bear with me here . .

I ask because time lines are important. Is it per calendar year, or from the time you make a batch? For a hypothetical example . . Starting January 1st 2009 through December 31st I brewed 100 gallons all of which was before August 1st. By August 1st of 2010 I've brewed another 200 gallons . . . but 100 gallons of that was during the winter months of '10. Could I retro that 1st 100 gallons of '10 back to call it 200 gallons from August '09 to August '10 and still be able to make another 100 gallons before December 31st 2010?

Don't let yer brains explode!!

 
     

TTB will be at your place on Monday!

[dirtyjerzey]

Drink the evidence and they will never know!!!   

[dhacker]

Oh, I'm legal!! (as of this post)

I just wasn't sure if it was CALENDAR year! 

[euge]

I thought it was 125 gallons per individual or 200 for the household?

Anyway, I just barely manage to drink my limit by myself, so the lawmakers must have been pretty savvy about beer consumption.

[dirtyjerzey]

I'm pretty sure you would need to do something rather drastic (illegal) to bring enough attention to yourself that they would actually check out what you have in your house.   I'm fairly certain the beer fuzz aren't snooping at brew shops and monitoring your online orders 

If you got caught selling/distributing homebrew and then they find 1000 gallons of brew in your micro-factory....THEN you should be concerned....I think the laws were made to give some teeth to tax laws....not to keep you from making as much beer as you can drink for personal consumption.

BTW, I would think it counts per calendar year...

[Pawtucket Patriot]

As a few people have already pointed out, it's a calendar year (January 1 - December 31).  The homebrew "exemption" is actually part of the tax code (it's an exemption because it exempts us from having to pay a tax on homebrewed beer up to the prescribed limits).  One of the common principles of the tax code is that each taxable year (which is a calendar year for most individual taxpayers) stands alone, unless otherwise specified.

So, theoretically, a single household could produce 200 gallons on December 31 and 200 gallons on January 1 and be just fine.   

[majorvices]

Limits? I thought the 200 gallons was just something we were supposed to shoot for? 

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Limits? I thought the 200 gallons was just something we were supposed to shoot for? 

It might as well be.  Have you ever heard of anyone being contacted by the IRS about going over?  Neither have I.   

[Pawtucket Patriot]

For the benefit of inquiring minds...

26 U.S.C. section 5053(e)
(e) Beer for personal or family use
Subject to regulation prescribed by the Secretary, any adult may,
without payment of tax, produce beer for personal or family use and
not for sale. The aggregate amount of beer exempt from tax under
this subsection with respect to any household shall not exceed -
(1) 200 gallons per calendar year if there are 2 or more adults
in such household, or
(2) 100 gallons per calendar year if there is only 1 adult in
such household.
For purposes of this subsection, the term "adult" means an
individual who has attained 18 years of age, or the minimum age (if
any) established by law applicable in the locality in which the
household is situated at which beer may be sold to individuals,
whichever is greater.

[dhacker]

Okay . . so what if you produce 200 gallons in a calendar year, but have 100 gallons left over from the previous calendar year?

[tschmidlin]

Okay . . so what if you produce 200 gallons in a calendar year, but have 100 gallons left over from the previous calendar year?

It says produce, nothing about when you have to consume it.

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Okay . . so what if you produce 200 gallons in a calendar year, but have 100 gallons left over from the previous calendar year?

Each tax year stands alone.  It doesn't matter what you've got left over.  You could hoard until you had a back stock of 10000000^10 gallons (provided you lived that long).

[bobburchler]

I'd say you were legal, if you can prove the 100 gallons was produced in the previous year.