TTB monthly report
The Brewer's Report of Operations (Form 5130.9). What each row means, when it's due, and the mistakes that trigger audits.
Every brewery in the United States that produces beer for sale files a Brewer's Report of Operations with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) — Form 5130.9. This report tracks every barrel of beer that enters and leaves your brewery, classifies how it left, and forms the basis for federal excise tax calculation.
It's not optional. It's not flexible. If you brew beer and sell it, you file it. If you file it wrong, you get fined and sometimes audited. If you don't file it at all, you lose your brewer's notice and stop being a brewery.
For a small brewery, the form takes about 30 minutes to fill out once you understand it. For your first time, it takes about three hours and involves crying.
When to file
If your annual federal beer excise tax liability is less than $50,000, you can file quarterly (January, April, July, October). Above that threshold — typically around 7,000 barrels per year of taxable production — you file monthly.
Filing deadline: the 15th day of the month following the reporting period. So January's report is due February 15. Late filings get a fine that scales with how late and how big you are.
Some breweries also need a "Semi-Monthly" tax return filing in addition to the operations report — that's the actual payment of excise tax. Don't confuse the two: 5130.9 reports what happened. The tax return (Form 5000.24) is what you pay.
The form structure
The 5130.9 is divided into two pages: a "Production" section that tracks where beer came from, and a "Disposition" section that tracks where beer went. The two sides must reconcile to the barrel.
Production side
Each row on production represents a way beer can enter your brewery's tax-liable inventory. The most-used rows:
| Line | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Line 1: Produced by fermentation | Beer you brewed this period. Measured at the moment fermentation ends, in barrels (31 US gallons each). |
| Line 6: Received | Beer transferred IN from another bonded brewery (yours or someone else's). Used for contract-brewed beer arriving at your facility. |
| Line 7: Returned to brewery | Beer that was previously removed taxpaid (i.e., shipped to a distributor) and is now coming back. You can claim a tax credit on this beer when it's destroyed or re-removed. |
Disposition side
This is where the tax exposure shows up. Every barrel that leaves your bonded premises either becomes taxpaid (you owe excise tax on it) or stays in some non-taxable status:
| Line | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Line 13: Removed taxpaid | This is the big one. Beer that left your brewery for sale — to a distributor, your taproom, an event. You pay excise tax on every barrel reported here. $3.50/bbl for the first 60,000 barrels (small brewer rate); $16/bbl above that. |
| Line 14: Removed for export | Beer shipped outside the US. No federal excise tax. |
| Line 16: Transferred in bond | Beer shipped to another bonded brewery (e.g., for contract packaging). No tax owed until that brewery removes it taxpaid. |
| Line 19: Destroyed | Beer poured down the drain (dumped batches, returned beer, expired stock). No tax. You must keep records of the destruction. |
| Line 20: Loss | Beer lost to spillage, leaks, sampling, line cleaning. TTB allows up to 5% of production as loss without scrutiny; losses above that draw attention. |
Inventory reconciliation
The form ends with a reconciliation: ending inventory = beginning inventory + production − dispositions. The math has to work to the barrel. If it doesn't, TTB notices.
What you need to track during the month
To fill out the report cleanly, you need barrel-level records of:
- Every fermentation batch: volume at the end of primary, calculated in barrels (one barrel = 31 US gallons)
- Every kegged or packaged batch: the volume actually packaged, in cases or barrels
- Every removal: when beer left your brewery, where it went, and the volume. This includes wholesale invoices, taproom POS data, and event/festival sales
- Every dump: when you dumped a batch and why
- Every spill or loss: approximate volume of any beer lost during transfer, cleaning, or breakage
- Every sample: beer pulled for lab testing or quality tasting (technically a loss)
Most breweries track this in either Beer30, Ekos, OrchestratedBEER, or a custom spreadsheet. Spreadsheets work fine up to about 1,500 barrels annual production; above that, dedicated brewery software pays for itself in time saved during reporting.
The most common mistakes
Volume mismatches between production and packaging. If you ferment 10 barrels but only package 9, you have 1 barrel of loss. Account for it on Line 20. Don't just round down — that creates a reconciliation gap that compounds over months.
Taproom dispensing not counted on Line 13. Beer poured at your own taproom is "removed taxpaid" — you owe federal excise tax even though it never left the building. Each pint must be tracked and rolled up to barrels. Most POS systems can output this report if configured correctly.
Loss line above 5%. If your reported loss is consistently above 5% of production, TTB will eventually ask why. Sometimes the answer is legitimate (line cleaning eats more on small systems) but you'll need to be able to defend it. Most breweries running clean processes report 1-3% loss.
Forgetting destruction records. If you dump a batch, you need a record — date, batch ID, volume, reason, witness. TTB doesn't want you to just say "we dumped 5 barrels." They want a paper trail. A simple destruction log spreadsheet covers this.
Mixing taxpaid and bonded beer. Beer that's been moved to the taxpaid side can't go back to bonded. Pay attention to inventory flow — once beer is "out the bond" it's tax-liable regardless of where it physically sits.
Beer pulled for festivals reported as "samples." If you give away beer at a festival, that beer is still "removed taxpaid" — you owe excise tax on it. Reported as Line 13, not Line 20. Lots of breweries get this wrong.
The actual filing
File electronically through Pay.gov or the TTB Online portal. Paper filing is technically allowed but practically nobody does it anymore.
If you owe excise tax (almost always), you also file the tax return at the same time and submit payment via ACH or wire. The two filings are linked — the 5130.9 reports the activity, the tax return calculates and pays the bill.
State excise taxes are separate and vary wildly by state. California, for example, has its own report (CDTFA-269) with state-specific rates and rules. Most states are due monthly or quarterly with their own deadlines.
When to get help
You can do this yourself for the first year or two. Past that, almost every successful small brewery either hires an outside compliance contractor or a part-time bookkeeper who specializes in brewery accounting. Hourly rates run $75-150 for someone who knows what they're doing, and they save you 5-10 hours per month plus the cost of an audit.
If you ever get a notice from TTB about a filing discrepancy, respond promptly. They're not hostile — they're administrative. Most discrepancies resolve with a phone call and a corrected filing. Ignoring TTB notices is what leads to actual problems.
For further reading, Brewery Law Blog (Marc Sorini at McDermott) covers regulatory updates clearly. The TTB FAQ at ttb.gov has accessible answers to most filing questions. The Brewers Association's resources for small brewers include compliance webinars worth attending.
Next: read about taproom economics — where the math of running a brewery actually plays out.