Shipping alcohol and tobacco abroad

Alcohol and tobacco are excise goods: on top of VAT and customs duty, they pay excise duty in the country where they're consumed. The simplified rules for small parcels don't cover them, and many carriers refuse them. Check both before you sell them abroad.

This article isn't legal or tax advice. Ask your carrier or a customs broker before you ship excise goods.

The low-value rules don't apply

Into the EU from outside it: IOSS can't be used for excise goods, and they don't count as low-value goods even under €150. Import VAT, excise duty and customs duty are charged at import, usually to the customer on delivery, or to you through your carrier with DDP. Source: European Commission, Explanatory Notes on VAT e-commerce.
Into the UK: the £135 rule, where you charge UK VAT at checkout, doesn't apply to parcels that contain alcohol or tobacco. Normal import VAT and duty apply instead, usually paid by the customer. Source: GOV.UK, VAT and overseas goods sold directly to customers in the UK.
Within the EU: no customs, but excise duty is still due in the customer's country. Selling to consumers there usually means paying it through a tax representative in that country.
To the US: alcohol needs a licensed importer and is restricted by state law, and postal services don't accept it. Shipping it to consumers is rarely possible.

Check with your carrier

Many postal services don't carry alcohol abroad at all, and express couriers often accept it only under a separate agreement, with excise paperwork. Ask before you take the order, not when the parcel is ready.

What Borderdesk does

Warns on the Documents page when an order contains alcohol or tobacco, based on the HS code (chapter 24, and headings 2203 to 2208).
Leaves out the IOSS reminder, the €3 EU duty note and the UK £135 checks on those parcels, since those rules don't apply to them.
Still prints the commercial invoice, with the HS code, origin and value customs need. It doesn't calculate excise duty or prepare excise documents.