HMRC’s beer duty fraud estimates continue to rise alarmingly leading to consultation about possible legislative measures to counter the fraud, including the introduction of beer fiscal marks. The electronic excise movement and control system (EMCS) grinds in to life but there is no cash left to finish the job. HMRC gives notice and then immediate cancellation of an alcohol anti-duty avoidance initiative announced in the Budget. Tribunal decision upholds the liability of a company’s excise debts jointly to the individual company official who simply – and unwittingly – signed the ‘entry form’.