Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond - Statewide in Texas

Brief Summary

You are almost certainly looking at two bonds, not one. The Comptroller takes one security bond for the 6.7 percent mixed beverage gross receipts tax and a separate one for the 8.25 percent mixed beverage sales tax, and TABC requires its own conduct surety bonds on top of that. The amount is not fixed either. It starts at $3,750 for a mixed beverage permit, $2,250 for a private club permit and $1,500 for a private club exemption, and rises with your tax liability. Send us your permit type and we will quote the pair.

Texas requires a mixed beverage permittee to post security with the Comptroller for each of the two mixed beverage taxes. The gross receipts tax bond covers the 6.7 percent tax under Texas Tax Code 183.025 and the sales tax bond covers the 8.25 percent tax under 183.043. Effective January 1, 2014 the Comptroller sets each bond from $3,750 to $100,000 for a mixed beverage permit, $2,250 to $100,000 for a private club permit and $1,500 to $100,000 for a private club exemption, or four times the permittee's monthly average tax liability, whichever is greater. Tax Code 183.025(b) puts the statutory outer bounds at not less than $1,000 and not more than the greater of $100,000 or four times average monthly liability. TABC conduct surety bonds are separate and additional.

We can help with all Texas bonds!

How to Apply for a Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond:

• Work out how many bonds you actually need. The Comptroller takes one for the gross receipts tax and one for the sales tax, and TABC requires conduct surety bonds separately.
• Identify your permit type, because it sets the floor. Mixed Beverage Permit $3,750, Private Club Permit $2,250, Private Club Exemption $1,500.
• Have your monthly average tax liability to hand. The amount is the greater of the floor or four times that average.
• Decide the form of security. Tax Code 183.025(b) accepts bonds, certificates of deposit, letters of credit or other security the comptroller determines sufficient.
• Legal entity name exactly as it appears on the TABC permit and the Comptroller registration.
• Texas taxpayer number and the permit number.
• Owner or principal information and authorization for a credit review.
• Business financials. At the upper end of the range this is real underwriting rather than a form filing.
• Complete the bond application, review the quoted premium for both bonds, and pay it.
• File the security with the Comptroller. The Comptroller's bond line is 800-252-8880 if you need the amount confirmed for your account.
• Handle the TABC conduct surety bonds separately. They are a different agency and the Comptroller's security does not satisfy them.
• Diary the 20th of each month. Mixed beverage tax reports are due on or before the 20th day of the month following the reporting period, even when there are no sales to report.

Detailed Information About the Texas Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond:

Two bonds, not one, and then a third agency

This is the part that catches new permittees, and it doubles the cost people budget for.

Texas taxes mixed beverages twice. There is a mixed beverage gross receipts tax at 6.7 percent and a mixed beverage sales tax at 8.25 percent. The Comptroller takes one security bond for each of them, described in its own words as one security bond for mixed beverage gross receipts tax and one for mixed beverage sales tax, to ensure against defaults on payments.

Then the Comptroller adds that these are in addition to conduct surety bonds that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission requires. Different agency, different filing, different bond.

So the question to ask before you budget is not what the mixed beverage bond costs. It is how many instruments your permit actually needs and which agency each one goes to.

The amount tiers by permit type

The Comptroller publishes floors that took effect January 1, 2014, and they are not the same for everybody.

A Mixed Beverage Permit carries a gross receipts tax bond of $3,750 to $100,000, and a sales tax bond in the same range. A Private Club Permit carries $2,250 to $100,000 for each. A Private Club Exemption carries $1,500 to $100,000 for each.

So the floor moves with what kind of permit you hold, and a private club is cheaper to bond than a full mixed beverage permit.

And then it tiers again by how much tax you owe

The range is only half the calculation. The Comptroller's rule adds, or four times the permittee's monthly average tax liability, whichever is greater.

That means volume drives you up the range. A quiet room sits near its floor. A busy one is priced off its own returns, and if four times your monthly average exceeds $100,000, the statute lets the requirement follow it there.

Tax Code 183.025(b) draws the outer bounds. The comptroller may not set security at less than $1,000, nor at more than the greater of $100,000 or four times the amount of the permittee's average monthly tax liability. The published floors of $3,750, $2,250 and $1,500 sit inside that statutory range as administrative minimums rather than as the statute's own numbers.

A surety bond is not the only way to satisfy it

Worth knowing, because most pages on this subject write as though it is.

183.025(b) speaks of the total of bonds, certificates of deposit, letters of credit, or other security determined to be sufficient by the comptroller. The requirement is for security in an amount the comptroller determines sufficient to protect the fiscal interests of the state. A surety bond is the usual answer because it costs a premium rather than tying up capital, but a certificate of deposit or a letter of credit satisfies the same requirement.

If you already have banking capacity sitting idle, price all three before defaulting to the bond.

The Chapter 151 carve out

A technical point that matters if somebody quotes you the general sales tax rule.

183.025(a) says a permittee subject to this tax must comply with the security requirements imposed by Chapter 151, except that a permittee is not required to comply with Section 151.253(b). Chapter 151 is the general Texas sales and use tax chapter, and 151.253 is its security provision.

So a mixed beverage permittee is not sitting under the ordinary sales tax security rule for this. The amount comes from 183.025(b) instead. If someone hands you a figure calculated under 151.253(b), it is the wrong section.

If you are reading an older page

The numbers changed, and old figures still circulate.

Between June 15, 2007 and December 31, 2013 the mixed beverage gross receipts tax bond ran from $7,500 to $100,000 for a mixed beverage permit and $4,500 to $100,000 for a private club. And there was no mixed beverage sales tax bond at all, because the sales tax itself did not exist before January 1, 2014.

So a page quoting $7,500, or describing a single mixed beverage bond, is describing the pre 2014 world.

Who this reaches, and the date that matters every month

The requirement attaches to holders of permits falling within the definition of mixed beverage permittee, which the Comptroller describes as including mixed beverage permit holders, private club registration permit holders and nonprofit entity temporary event permit holders.

Reports are monthly. They are due on or before the 20th day of the month following each reporting period, and the Comptroller is explicit that the report is due even if there are no mixed beverage sales to report. A zero month still needs a filing, and the security exists precisely because the state expects to be paid on that cycle.

Eligibility and Requirements for a Texas Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond:

• Security posted with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts for the mixed beverage gross receipts tax under Tax Code 183.025.
• Separate security posted for the mixed beverage sales tax under Tax Code 183.043.
• A gross receipts tax bond of $3,750 to $100,000 for a mixed beverage permit, $2,250 to $100,000 for a private club permit, or $1,500 to $100,000 for a private club exemption.
• Or four times the permittee's monthly average tax liability, whichever is greater.
• Statutory outer bounds of not less than $1,000 and not more than the greater of $100,000 or four times average monthly tax liability.
• Acceptable security may be a bond, a certificate of deposit, a letter of credit, or other security the comptroller determines sufficient.
• An amount the comptroller determines sufficient to protect the fiscal interests of the state.
• Conduct surety bonds required separately by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
• Entity name on the bond matching the permit and the Comptroller registration exactly.

Texas Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond FAQs:

Official and Additional Resources for the Texas Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax Bond: