Do I need to pay excise duty on product samples taken out of bond for promotional campaigns?

Yes, you must pay excise duty on samples removed from bond regardless of purpose—there is no duty exemption for promotional sampling.

Members confirmed the hard rule: **excise duty applies to any stock taken out of bond**, whether it's for sale or sampling. There is no mechanism to claim duty back on samples that aren't sold.

Your only duty-suspended options are: - **Export the samples duty-suspended** to avoid paying duty upfront - **Destroy the stock in duty suspension** and make a formal declaration to HMRC

If samples remain in the UK for promotional use (e.g. Ocado sampling campaigns, retailer gift boxes), duty must be paid at the point of removal from bond.