They have also completed actions to deregister owner of goods and duty representatives from the Excise Trader Data System (ETDS) and remove all owners from the ATWD system.
This follows publication of The Excise Duties (Miscellaneous Amendments and Revocations) Regulations 2025 on 3 March 2025 which removed the requirement for Owner of Goods and Duty Representatives to be registered and approved with HMRC.
The live implementation date for the permanent fix to ATWD for WOWGR is the 1st October 2026.
Background and Context
Earlier this year we advised you of the short-term workaround and long-term fix for the Alcohol Tobacco Warrant Declaration (ATWD) system as a result of the WOWGR changes.
The short-term fix advised businesses to continue to submit warrants using the WOWGR option to ensure that validation within ATWD system continues to operate, and warrants are not rejected.
The permanent fix to remove WOWGR functionality and associated validation was agreed to be done as part of the Vaping Products Duty (VPD) changes ahead of the live implementation date of the 1st October 2026.
In addition, we would work with IT partners to deregister WOWGR owner of goods and duty reps from the Excise Trader Data System (ETDS) and remove all owners from the ATWD system.
Latest position
We have been informed by IT partners that all actions are on track for completion ahead of the 1st October 2026. This covers the following:
1. Removal of WOWGR functionality and associated validation to the following warrants which include proprietor options, WOWGR Registered, Non WOWGR VAT Registered Proprietor, Individual Proprietor with no registration and Proprietor is a warehousekeeper.
- W5 – Alcohol Remittance Warrant
- W5D – Alcohol Deferment Warrant
- W6 – Tobacco Remittance Warrant
- W6D – Tobacco Deferment Warrant
With effect from 1 October 2026 the above warrants will include the following changes:
- Removal of WOWGR Registered Proprietor
- Amendment to Non WOWGR Registered Proprietor – this will be amended to VAT Registered Proprietor
2. With effect from 1 October 2026 removal of WOWGR functionality and associated validation to the W1 Excise Warehouse Return.
W1 Excise Warehouse Return changes include:
Removal of the current requirement for excise warehousekeepers to add or remove Owners of Goods on the W1 Excise Warehouse Return.
3. With effect from 1 October 2026 the updated W1 Excise Warehouse Return (paper version) and completion notes will be available on GOV.UK which removes Section D, Owners of Goods in warehouse to ensure consistency with the online version.
4. Deregistered all owner of goods and duty representatives in the ETDS system and deregistered all owners in the ATWD system.
5. Provided comms to Software Developers.
