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Happy Tuesday Evening to One and All, Although I have been absent for some time, know that I have missed you greatly!!! As it turns out, all is not well in the battle taking place in the insuranceverse, and things have been tenuous, but I, InsuranceMan 2.0 have not given up the battle, and I gain grounds each day. I have many distillers coming to me, keeping me incredibly busy, and I have battled and won many a victory in their name. I do it for you, dear readers/distillers, and my track record is second to NONE! More on that later and the ever changing market and battles. In the meantime though, I have used my superpowers to fly to Las Vegas with my beloved assistant to visit with any of you attending the GIANTIC ADI expo/convention (20 years ... woot-woot) and visit with each of you in person. Yes, that is correct. I have taken precious time to come and speak with each and every one of you at the convention ... well, at least each of you that will be in attendance. The rest will be here in spirit! I will be in attendance at booth 331, and I encourage any of you that have not yet met me in person to grace me with you presents at the insurance super booth of 331. To those of you that I have had the pleasure of meeting, please stop by and allow me to bask in your aura for at least a moment. Gaze your eyes semi upward from floorish distance (like 4 to 6 feet off of terra-firma) and scan the normalish eyesight gaze as if you were walking and not looking at you handheld communication device, and you will see the fantabulous "InsuranceMan 2.0" pop-up/stand up banner. Behold it for a moment for its amazinginess, then approach and speak. You will be heard and your needs will be met. Until tomorrow and the next day my friends ... Stay Vigailant!!! Best, Aaron Linden aka InsuranceMan 2.0 aaron@roaringforkins.com or InsuranceMan2.0@yahoo.com 307-752-5961

Happy Thursday to You, Dear Reader, I know it has been quite some time since my last post here in the sacred forums (about 6 months actually), and it is Thursday, not Tuesday, and that you have probably wondered where I had been, and for all of that I am heartfully sorry. I have left you high and dry without my weekly educational and witty insurance writings, and I am sure you are worse for the wear for it. The reasoning for my lack of activity here is simply due to the ongoing work/life dichotomy. I have been extremely busy within the insurance-verse, family needs, etc. However, I have been here, and I will continue to be here and thank you to all the distillers that have reached out to me in the last several months for their insurance needs. With that, let us get to today’s topic that has been at the top of my mind for many months now. That topic is Auto Coverage. I know that I have written about the various types of auto coverage here on the forums in the past, but recently there was a situation that brought this back to the forefront in my mind. I have a distillery that I have worked with for the last several years. Over that time many things have changed, grown, ebbed and flowed, and the need to keep their insurance up to date has been of the utmost importance. A while back they decided to not only start doing some of their own delivery by use of employee vehicles, but also purchased an auto in the name of the company as well. They called me and asked about the insurance implications to which I filled them in on all of the various needs and coverages. We implemented a commercial auto policy for the owned auto and made sure to have the “hired and non-owned auto” endorsement added for employees using their own personal vehicles for delivery. THANK OUR LUCKY STARS WE DID!!! I must pause here and stress the importance of communication with your insurance agent here. I have had distilleries in the past that had people out delivering product in their own vehicles, and I had no idea that they were self-distributing. Although I almost always make sure to add on the hired and non-owned auto endorsement, there are some carriers that do not offer it. Had I not casually brought this up to them, they would have had folks out running around uncovered. Same goes with any changes you make at your distillery. If you bring in totes of product, make sure you know they are covered for value. Add equipment? Make a call and find out if it is covered. Now, I am not saying get crazy and call for each and every little thing. A $500 laptop may or may not be worth a phone call, but all “bigger ticket” items, or changes … make the call. If you add a tasting room that you didn’t have before, for sure you need to communicate that. Anyway, back to the story at hand. We added the commercial vehicle and hired and non-owned coverage. About 4 weeks later, one of the employees loaded up his pickup truck to go and deliver 20 cases of product to a local vendor. In doing so, he was involved in a 5-vehicle accident due to some numbskull that was speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. The employee had to jam on his breaks and swerve to avoid the aforementioned numbskull which inadvertently caused him to slam into the back side panel of another vehicle at an intersection which then caused both of them to slam into another vehicle at the cross street. Mr. Numbskull also ended up crashing into a vehicle on the other side of the intersection and thankfully no one was severely injured and there were several witnesses that attested to the fact that the Numbskull was the proximate cause of all of the damage. As you can imagine, my insured’s employee still shared some of the responsibility as he swerved to avoid the Numbskull and did cause some damage. This is the moment that the whole thing turned from an accident caused by some moron to a much bigger deal. Normally, the police would have collected everyone’s information, maybe issued a citation, and moved on. However, the pickup my insured’s employee was driving was full of product. So now we have an open bed pickup where the product is clearly visible in branded boxes, there are “XYZ” distillery boxes strewn about the intersection, and broken bottles leaking booze everywhere … a moment of silence for the lost bottles please … That is when it turned from just another auto accident into a “Hey, what are you doing with so much booze in your vehicle?” moment. The employee honestly stated that he was out on a delivery for “XYZ” distillery which means that everyone that he was involved in the incident immediately thought, “YYYEEEEE-HAAWWWW!!!! PAY DAY!!!! A distillery employee hit me, hurt me and damaged my vehicle, and THOSE GUYS HAVE TONS OF MONEY!!!!” As we all know, that is what people think, that distilleries basically print their own money. In reality, we all know that is more fiction than fact for many. Anyway, as you can imagine, the distillery started getting notices that they were being sued by several individuals that were involved in the accident. They went after the employee personally under his individual auto insurance, but then came after the distillery as well, since more and deeper pockets are the only thing lawyers are interested in. Due to the fact that we had the appropriate coverage in place, we knew that “XYZ” distillery had $1,000,000 worth of hired and non-owned automobile liability and should be safe. Had we not had this coverage in place, the distillery would have been opened up to these lawsuits with no protection and been solely on the hook for any resulting court awards. Super scary, as most of us don’t have an extra $1,000,000 just laying around for rainy days. The point of all of this is, communicate with your insurance agent. There are no dumb calls, or dumb questions, but if your agent does not know what you are up to, THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP TO! If a claim happens, that is not the time to call and find out that discussions never happened and you don’t have coverage for something as simple as an auto accident. With that, I am off to work my insurance superhero powers for those of you who have contacted me, that I work with, and getting ready for the calls, emails, and texts from all of those out there that this will spur thoughts for that think, “OH NO, did I mention this to InsuranceMan 2.0!!! ????” I can see the future dear readers, it is a skill, after all, I am a superhero. Until Next Time Dear Reader … Stay Vigilant, Aaron Linden a.k.a. InsuranceMan 2.0!!! 307-752-5961 aaron@roaringforkins.com or insuranceman2.0@yahoo.com

Good Tuesday to you, dear ADI Forum Reader, I hope you are all well and doing great. Quick personal update … I am still dealing with pneumonia, however, I am doing better than most (Superhero and all) and I am hopeful that by this weekend I will be in prime-super-form once again. OK, on to the hot topic at hand for today’s TMIT – Cancellation due to non-pay. As we all know, it has been a topsy-turvy world in 2020 and things have been difficult for many. Not to rehash the past, or pontificate ad nauseam on the future, but shut-downs, stay-at-homes, business closures, limited hours and seating, on and on, have been a difficult financial situation for many. With that, finances get tight and certain things either need to be let go out of necessity, or they were let go and missed simply because folks were on overload and just did not think about certain things during crisis/panic mode. I totally get it. A few short months ago we were worried about even finding toilet paper for God’s sake, let alone if certain bills were getting paid. (Quick aside, you know I love “asides” … I went to the local “Stuff-Mart” just yesterday and guess what … THEY ARE OUT OF ALL PAPER PRODUCTS!!! NOOOOO!!! NOT AGAIN!!!! It is true, no toilet paper, no paper towels, and no facial tissues. Seriously, again people, what is the deal???? Food galore, anything else you could ever want, TV’s, clothes, whatever … but no freakin’ paper products?!??!?! UGH!!!!) So, with all that has been going on, and appears to be happening again, I wanted to caution you about something in the insurance-verse that is starting to take a dreaded toll. CANCELLATIONS FOR NON-PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS … Dun-dah-DUN!!! Seriously though, this is becoming quite a huge factor with a lot of insured’s and carriers. People either had to miss some premium payments, because it was that or put food on the table, or some just flat out forgot (we had life to deal with, INSURANCE OVERLOARDS!!!!! Geeze!!!) The issues that are stemming from this however can be a bit dire. Let’s say that for whatever reason, you missed a payment, just one … or a few (as some carriers allowed for a “Forgiveness” of a few months, which they then built into the subsequent payments, kind of like a “Balloon” payment option). Now, you find out that the carrier has cancelled you policy for non-payment of premium. OK, maybe that is not the biggest deal that you have had to deal with in 2020, but you want to make sure your “ass”-ets are covered. What do you do?!?! Well, dear reader, that is why I, InsuranceMan 2.0!!! am penning this post to you today. There may be a few options. Let’s start with the best case scenario. You get a hold of your insurance agent (which should be me … but I won’t “agent shame” you here), and you let them know what happened. They console you and tell you they will get on the horn with the carrier and work some magic. This is the best possible situation. If they can get a hold of the underwriter and billing and let them know that you just could not pay at that time, but you are now willing to make up the payments and any future payments on a monthly basis (or in full, I have see that. Where the caveat to reinstating the policy is that it must be paid off in full), and voilà, you have your coverage back, no harm, no foul. They may ask for a No Known Loss Letter (NKLL), stating that you had no losses during that time, but again, no big deal. The second possible situation is that they will not reinstate the policy, but they may be willing to rewrite it. If any premium is outstanding, they may require that to be paid, and then rewrite the policy with new dates, but at least you can get your coverage going again. With a lapse, but still, you have coverage! Nothing that cannot be overcome in a few years. If you had not losses, OK, you are good to go. Then there is the possible last option, the dreaded, abhorred, loathsome, last option … the option that has spurring on the writing of this post. If all else fails, and your carrier is not willing to reinstate or rewrite the coverage, and now you are stained with the hideous mark of a “CANCELLATION FOR NON-PAYMENT OF PREMIUM” you are headed off to the “The Brokerage”!!! The land of Excess and Surplus Lines (E&S) coverage. THE HORROR!!!!!!!!! Actually, this is not that bad, nor is it the end of all things. I actually quite like E&S carriers. They do things no one else will, they can work you out of a pinch situation, and in many instances the coverage is just as good as what you were used to. The downside to this … Yes, come on, you knew there was going to be a downside, there always has to be a downside to everything. Premium. When you are ineligible for coverage with a standard carrier, the E&S carriers know that, and if you have “THE MARK”, there is a bit of a risk involved (from their perspective), so, in order to take that risk, they are going to make it a bit more worth their while. My experience has been that you can expect anywhere from a 1.5 to 3 times differential in premium. If you were paying $5,000 before the cancellation for non-payment, the E&S folks will probably write your coverage for around $7,500 to $15,000. I know, the irony here is palatable. If you had this kind of dough during all of the rest of the year, you would have paid the dang premiums in the first place, how are you expected to pay a substantial increase. Sorry, it is just the law of the land. Higher risk (supposedly), higher premiums. One other precluding side-effect of a non-pay cancellation is that standard carriers may not be willing to take you on for a few years. Some will after a clean track record of a year, others will be two … or longer, depending on the economy and “crystal ball” type stuff. Good news is that you can get coverage, bad news is it may cost you more. Don’t get down though, any agent (mmhumm … ME!) who know how to negotiate the “E&S” realm in the belly of the insurance industry beast will have options to assist in alleviating some of the heartburn via working out a premium finance option for you. In summary, if you have fallen victim to the difficult times of the recent past, whether I work with you or not, and you are looking for options to get your coverage back up and going or reinstated, turn on the Insurance Man 2.0!!! beacon, or just give me a call or shoot me an email, and I will gladly come to your rescue. I want you safe, secure, and insured. Until next time dear reader … Stay Vigilant, Aaron Linden a.k.a. Insurance Man 2.0!!! (307) 752-5961 aaron@roaringforkins.com or insuranceman2.0@gmail.com

Happy Tuesday Loyal Readers, In today’s installment of the “Tidbit”, I wanted to take a moment to simply set the record straight. I have had several calls over the last few weeks since the big ADI convention and announcement of me being the recommended endorsed insurance agent that have all posed the same query. Several folks have called me (and even a few asked, “Is this InsuranceMan 2.0?!?!?!?! The real InsuranceMan 2.0!?!?!?!?”, that made me chortle and perhaps even guffaw a bit) and asked me how much my initial consultation was, or what my fees were to assist them. WHAT!?!?!?!? People, people, people … I know that I have been specializing in distillery insurance for longer than anyone else, and I know that I have a very nice amount of clients who say wonderful things about me and recommend using me, and for all of these things I am incredibly grateful, but one thing I do not do, nor will I ever do, is charge for my knowledge, assistance, or opinions. I DO NOT charge an “initial consultation fee” or any such thing. To be crystal clear, InsuranceMan 2.0!!! is here to assist and serve, free of charge. My knowledge, opinion, answers to questions, and assistance is ALWAYS FREE OF CHARGE. The only thing that will ever cost you good ol’ fashioned “foldin’ money” is if, after speaking with me and having all of your questions answered, you decide to purchase an insurance policy through me. END OF STORY!!!!! My initial consultation and everything else are simply free for the taking. If you call me up (or email or text me or whatever), ask me a bunch of questions (which I will gladly answer), and you hang up and never speak to me again, ok. No cost to you, nada, zip, zilch, zero. If you call me up and decide that everyone who says good things about me is correct, and you want to do business with me (which you will, trust me 😉 ), then yes, there is a cost associated with that, but it is only the cost of the insurance policy(ies) premium, and that is all. No “consultation fees”, or any tacked-on fees by me. I am here to assist you, guide you through the process, and be of whatever help you need, FREE OF CHARGE!!!! Gratis, Pro Bono, Complimentary, Voluntary, and a lot of other synonyms that mean “free”. So, realistically, what are you waiting for? Speaking to me does not cost you a thing, and I do know a lot about distillery insurance, and it is all here for the taking. Whether you have been operational for years and years, or you are just looking at getting into the game, I can assist you. Some people that have been distilling for years call me up due to their operations expanding, or maybe they are needing to grow into another state with their distribution and they need a state bond, or they find out their current agent could only assist them up to a certain level of coverage, I can and do assist them. Others have no idea what insurance is or why they need it and they call me with questions pertaining to the basics, I love to assist them as well. Some folks are somewhere in the middle or need to add to their existing coverage but have no idea what they need, OK, not a problem. The long and the short of it is, there are no stupid question and there is nothing to big or small for me to discuss. If you have any questions or concerns what-so-ever in regards to your distillery insurance (GL, Liquor, Work Comp, Cargo, Business Auto, Property, Keyman, BI/EE, HNOA, or any other insurance acronym) please give me a call, shoot me an email, thumb me a text, hit me up on FaceSnapGram, whatever, I am here to help. InsuranceMan 2.0!!! is always on the job, and as always, is always free! Until Next Time Dear Reader … Stay Vigilant!!!!!!!!! Aaron Linden a.k.a InsuranceMan 2.0!!! 307-752-5961 Insuranceman2.0@yahoo.com

Happy Tuesday my ADI friends, In today's installment of the “Tidbit”, we are going to discuss something you are going to need to know about shortly. The difference between a “Standard Market”, and an “Excess and Surplus Lines (E&S)” market. This is also commonly referred to as “Admitted”, or “Non-Admitted” markets. First of all, why are we even talking about this?!?!?!? What does this have to do with anything?!?!?!?! It’s OK, breathe … you are lucky I am here to save the day … I will explain everything. In the spirit of transparency, I wanted to make you aware of what is happening in Insuranceopolis! In a nutshell, or if you prefer, in a reader’s digest version … well … actually … that just does not exist as the nuances of these definitions is rather deep, complicated, and convoluted to say the least. But fear not dear reader, I will do my best to break it down in a succinct manner for you here. To be honest, the easiest way to thing of this is “lower premiums vs. higher premiums”. Well, that is what many believe, although in some cases that may not be true. But for us here, for the ease of discussion, it will hold true here. A “Standard Market” or “Admitted Carrier” is an insurance company that is licensed to do business in the state that it is operating in (so if they are writing coverage in 50 states, they hold 50 licenses, one in each state). They must conform to various regulations and filed rates for each individual state and classification of business, and a big difference is that they pay into what is known as a “State Guaranty Fund”. “OH DEAR SWEET INSURANCE TERMINOLOGY!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS InsuranceMan 2.0 TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?!?”, you may be thinking. Hold on to your snifter (or glass of choice) and relax, I will explain. A state guaranty fund is basically a fund set up in each state to protect insureds from defaults on payments of claims in the case that an insurance company becomes insolvent. Basically, it protects the insureds of any carrier licensed to do business in the state in the case of catastrophic loss whereby the carrier may throw up its hands, declare bankruptcy, and say, “So sorry, we are teary on the inside, but you get no money for your claims, we are all out of funds.” NOPE!!!!! The “fund” makes sure that money is available to pay the claims in a situation such as this. OK, now that that is over, lets talk about another big difference, MONEY. Admitted carriers, or “Standard” carriers take on risk, don’t get me wrong. They just do it in a way that allows them to assess lower risk, higher reward business that makes them quite profitable. The ability to assess the amount and level of risk, weighed against the premium charged, allows these carriers to still take on legitimate risk, but at a much lower level. These carriers are kind of like the nerdy kid in class that would assess every possible outcome of a situation and only get involved if they knew that they were almost 99.99999999999999% to come out on the winning or “not getting hurt” side of things. With that said, “Excess & Surplus Lines”, or “Non-Admitted” carriers are quite the opposite. These folks are like the cool risk-taker kids we all knew growing up. These are the folks who still fully assess the risks associated, but look at it and say, “Y’all hold my bourbon and watch this!” These are the folks who understand risk fully as well but understand that there are riskier business out there that still need insurance. These folks fill that void. A big difference is that the E&S folks are usually only licensed in one state but operate in many or all of them. Heck, they don’t even have to be licensed in the US. Ever heard of Lloyd’s of London?!?!?! Another big difference, these Maverick types don’t pay into any kind of guaranty fund. “Guaranty Fund … We don’t need no stinking Guaranty Funds!!!” Man, who doesn’t like hanging out with these folks as opposed to the nerdy “Admitted” folks?!?!?! Well … just like in real life, hanging out the nerdy safe folks is just that, pretty safe. Hanging out with the risk takers, well, sooner or later its gonna cost you! So, what do I mean?!?!?! I have no idea, I lost my superhero train of thought, dagnabit! HA, JOKING, InsuranceMan 2.0 never losses his super-mind! What I mean is that the nerdy admitted carriers do take lower risk clients on so they can afford to charge lower premiums and still remain profitable come the end of the year. The Super cool risk-taker non-admitted kids take on cool well assessed risks, but if something goes wrong, and things associated with higher risks can go wrong in bigger ways and more often, so they have to make you pay more so that they too are profitable at the end of the year. Also, since they don’t pay into the guaranty fund, if things go real bad and they become insolvent, there may not be money to pay your claims. I will say though, I have personally never seen this happen, but it could. Think of it this way, your “Farm”-insurance companies do homes, autos, some little businesses, etc. Pretty innocuous stuff. They will not insure things like a running-back’s legs for $12.4 million, or a distillery for that matter. Yes, car accidents happen, and fires do happen, but surprisingly very rarely. Again, low risk, high reward for the nerdy kids. Football players however, they get hurt all the time on the field. AH, here comes the cool risk-taker kid! Again though, the “Farm’s” won’t even consider something like this, so those that will (like Lloyd’s), know there is a need, but they are going to charge a much higher premium due to the amount of risk, and slightly due to the fact that they know no one else will take on the risk. FINE!!!! I will get to the point of all of this, trust me, the build up is worth the wait. As you know if you read my post, “The Times, They Are a-Changin’”, the times are truly a-changin’, over the past several weeks there has been a shift in the insurance marketplace. Standard carriers that would look at and write distillery insurance have been pulling back. They have been strengthening underwriting requirements and guidelines that they did not have before. Basically, the insurance market is cyclical and always has been. Standard carriers will consider certain risks and be aggressive and seek them out for a period of 4-7 years, but then “IT” happens. “IT” being that there is a pullback, a reduction of risk that can last for 4-7 years as well. “IT” happens with hotels, contractors, and on and on the list goes. We are seeing this shift now as well with distilleries and the standard carriers available that are wanting to actively write the insurance for them. Many (most) are now looking at distilleries as a “riskier” risk and pulling back on providing insurance for them. So, what does that mean for those of us in Insuranceopolis??!?!?! It means that we must start preparing. It means that we are going to see this shift start to affect all of us in regard to premiums and availability of coverage with standard carriers. Fear not though fine citizens! It is InsuranceMan 2.0 to the rescue, and I have the “cool risk-taker” kids in tow! I will continue to approach the standard nerdy kids with distillery business, but I wanted to prepare you in advance that these opportunities may be fewer and further between. Out of 22 distilleries submitted in the last few weeks, the nerdy kids have declined all of them. That is too bad for them, because this is not a risky business. Distilleries are so highly regulated, by not only local/state/and federal authorities, but by yourselves as well! These businesses are you heart and soul and you would never do anything “risky” that puts your work and business at risk. The nerdy kids don’t see this currently, they think it is a risky risk that they don’t want to take a risk on. That’s ok, I am here with the cool risk-taker kids who will take a risk on you risk, it just may cost a bit more for a time. I will continue to do the very best job and obtain the lowest premiums for all of you, fine citizens! Again, in the spirit of transparency, I just wanted you all to know where things are and where they appear to be headed, so you are not blindsided. I will always advocate for you and we will prevail!!!!!!!! We will make them see that this is a good risk, and we will win them over. If you don’t believe me, y’all hold my bourbon and watch me do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stay Vigilant, Aaron Linden a.k.a. InsuranceMan 2.0 insuranceman2.0@yahoo.com 307-752-5961

Happy 11/11 everyone!!! It has been a little while since I have posted anything new here on the forums and I thank you all for that based on the fact that ADI members have been keeping me VERY busy with insurance and bonding needs. Speaking of bonds, what a segue into the hot topic of the day. On 11/7/17 the TTB released new information in regards to the "Information for Alcohol Excise Taxpayers and Applicants for Permits and Brewers’ Notices Regarding Internal Revenue Code Amendments Affecting Excise Tax Due Dates and Bond Requirements". Specifically they cite the "Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (“the PATH Act”) (Public Law 114-113). Section 332 of the PATH Act amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (IRC) to change excise tax due dates and remove bond requirements for certain eligible taxpayers (see 26 U.S.C. 5061 and 5551)." Are you sleeping yet? Still with me????? OK ............ This bulletin they released specifies new "Excise Tax Due Dates" that basically say that if you were not liable for more than $50,000 of taxable liability for the calendar year prior, and you don't think you will be above that amount this year, then you can pay your taxes on a quarterly basis beginning 1/1/17. That's cool. It also says that if you reasonably (can someone define what that may mean?? "reasonably" according to who???) expect to not be liable for more than $1,000 in taxes this year as well as in the prior year, you can now pay those taxes annually rather than quarterly. No offense here, but if you have less than $1,000 in taxable liability as a distiller, you have to be quite small as that is only about 463 bottles a year, or in other words, just under 40 bottles a month. Ok, on to the "beefier" subject of this information and what you are really wanting to know; who is exempt and no longer needs this pesky bond stuff anyway!??!!?!? Well, staring as of 1/1/17 it says, " ..... taxpayers who pay taxes annually (so anyone paying less than $1,000 a year, my words here, not theirs) or quarterly (so those folks doing less than an $50,000 a year in taxable liability) will be exempt from the requirements to file bonds covering operations or withdrawals of distilled spirits or wines for nonindustrial use, or beer." Based on the fact that taxable liability only comes into play when spirits are withdrawn (yes, in some cases destroyed, but lets not focus on the negative here people) for distribution/sale (not a transfer in bond, I know my stuff), then as long as you will have less than $50,000 in taxable liability you are good to go without a bond. So is this as clear as mud yet!?!?!?! Basically what is being said here is that if you are going to have less than $50,000 in taxable liability this year (and you had less than that last year) you do not have to have a bond any longer. "BONDS!??! WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING BONDS!!!!!!!!!!" WooHoo, right!?!?!? Well ................... not so fast there speedy. There are a few things to consider before making the call to your agent and telling them to cancel that money sucking bond (actually, my bonds are the lowest in the country so they are not "money sucking" at all). First off, are you close to that bond limit of $50,000? If you are close, or expect to be "reasonably" (hahahaha) close, you may want to leave it in place, just in case. You do not want to cancel the bond only to have to turn around a few months or a few quarters later because you have increased your sales/distribution which equates to withdrawal, and now need to be bonded again. Another aspect to consider is this, when does your bond term come due? I have a lot of folks who will fit the requirements to cancel their bond, however their bond terms renew in November or December. According to the stipulations, they need to renew and keep their bond up until 1/1/17, so they MUST renew it. Here is another caveat to that, depending on the surety carrier that issues the bond, the premium may be pro-rated (you can get money back for the unused portion of the term once you cancel) but they may keep a minimum of $100 service fee ............ or ............. if the premium is 100% full earned, you may not get anything back. Well, why cancel the bond at that point?!?!?! The other issue is that the TTB will not allow you to cancel the bond until all unpaid taxes are rectified from 2016. Once they are you can file for a bond exemption with the TTB through the PONL system but they never specify how long that process will take. So here again is something to watch out for. What if your bond term is after the 1/1/17 date and you file for the exemption but it takes them 6 months (for whatever reason) to process it. Do you need to renew your bond while this is in process? At this point in time I would suggest that you do renew it since you do not want to be out of compliance during the processing time. See, this is not as simplistic as it is made to sound. Obviously, these scenarios are all in regards to existing DSP proprietors. So what about new applicants. Well, for new applicants, since the current processing time for a permit is over 200 days, you should be able to apply for your permit and ask for the exemption during the permitting process. That part actually does sound simplistic and appears to be pretty straightforward. There is a first time for everything!!! So what does this all mean, in real facts and figures and how do you know if you will be below the magical $50,000 mark? Well here is a quick mathematical computation for you (keep in mind these numbers are rounded for simplistic purposes): Current excise tax liability = $13.50 per proof gallon (proof gallon defined as 50% ABV or 100 proof) Taxes are only due when spirits leave the plant, so anything in holding/process does not count against this amount Most spirits go out the door at 80 proof, so the tax rate then would be $13.50 x .8 = $10.80 per gallon (since it is proofed down) Therefore, $50,000 / $10.80 = 4,629 gallons a year or roughly 23,000 bottles of booze, or nearly 2,000 bottles a month Here are pretty much the same numbers but done in actual proof gallons (not rounded): $50,000/$13.50 = 3,703.7 p.g. One case of 12-750’s at 80 proof = 1.902 p.g. per case 3703.7 p.g./1.902 p.g = 1,947 cases or 23,364 bottles per year (cases rounded down to full case) 1947/12 = 162.25 cases per month 23,364/12 = 1947 bottles per month So there you have it folks. A long run for a short slide as it were. The just of all of this is that some of you may not need a bond if you are just getting going and some of you may not need a bond even if you are operating, however make sure you understand where you stand and when the bond term comes due before cancelling you bond. As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me with any questions. I can be reached here on the forums, via email at aaron.linden@hubinternational.com , or give me a call or shoot me a text at 307-752-5961. I am always more than happy to assist you with your bonding questions and do keep in mind ***** I OFFER A FULL LINE OF ALL DISTILLERY INSURANCE NEEDS, AS WELL, I HAVE THE BEST RATES IN THE COUNTRY. ***** Just sayin'. Best, Aaron