Selling Alcohol to a Minor: TABC Penalties and License Consequences

A sale to a minor, meaning anyone under 21, can trigger two separate tracks. The person who made the sale can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $4,000, up to one year in jail, or both. The permit or license can be suspended or cancelled: TABC’s public safety chart starts at 8 to 12 days of suspension for a first violation, and on the third, the range runs from 48 days of suspension to cancellation, and a civil penalty in place of the suspension is not automatic for this violation.

The criminal case against the person who sold

Section 106.03 of the Alcoholic Beverage Code makes it an offense to sell an alcoholic beverage to a minor “with criminal negligence.” The offense is a Class A misdemeanor, and under Section 12.21 of the Penal Code that means a fine not to exceed $4,000, confinement in jail for up to one year, or both.

The statute gives the seller a specific defense. Under Section 106.03(b), there is no offense if the minor falsely claimed to be 21 or older by showing an apparently valid ID that:

• contains a physical description and photograph consistent with the minor’s appearance;
• purports to show the minor is 21 or older; and
• was issued by a government agency, such as a Texas driver’s license or ID card, a passport, or a military ID.

That defense is lost under Section 106.03(d) if the seller scanned the license or ID card electronically and the scan identified it as invalid.

This defense belongs to the individual in the criminal case. It is not the employer’s Safe Harbor protection, which is a separate rule in Section 106.14 about whether the employee’s sale is charged against the permit.

The administrative case against the permit

Section 106.13 sets the outer limits for a retail permit, a retail license, or a private club registration permit when the holder, “with criminal negligence,” sold, served, dispensed, or delivered alcohol to a minor, or allowed a minor to possess or consume alcohol on the premises:

Within those limits, TABC’s public safety penalty chart (Rule 34.2, amended effective June 6, 2022) sets the standard sanction for selling to a minor at 8 to 12 days for a first violation, 16 to 24 days for a second, and 48 days to cancellation for a third. Permitting a minor to possess or consume has its own, lower row.

Three further rules shape the outcome:

• No automatic fine option. Section 11.64 of the Code requires TABC to offer a civil penalty in place of a suspension unless the violation is on a statutory list. A sale to a minor under Section 106.03 is on that list, so TABC decides whether to offer the option at all.
• No settlement offer after serious harm. Under TABC Rule 34.1(e), a case alleging a sale to a minor that directly or indirectly caused death or serious bodily injury goes straight to TABC’s legal services division “without an offer of settlement or compromise.”
• More inspections. TABC’s violations page states that a public safety violation places the business on a priority list for additional inspections.

What can reduce the sanction?

Section 106.13(c) lets TABC relax the suspension and cancellation provisions and assess a sanction it finds just, if the permit holder establishes at a hearing:

1. that the violation could not reasonably have been prevented by the exercise of due diligence;
2. that the permit holder was entrapped; or
3. that an agent, servant, or employee violated the Code without the permit holder’s knowledge.

Separately, if the employer meets the Safe Harbor conditions of Section 106.14, including seller-server training and certification and a deadline for filing a sworn affidavit after the notice, the employee’s sale is not attributed to the permit at all.

What happens first

Any criminal case is brought against the person who sold; the administrative case begins with a notice to the permit holder’s AIMS account. Each runs on its own timeline, in a different forum.

For the permit holder, the first decisions are whether to rely on Safe Harbor, whether to accept TABC’s settlement offer or request a hearing, and whether any of the Section 106.13(c) circumstances apply.

This article is general information about Texas alcoholic beverage law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes and TABC rules change; confirm current requirements with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, the relevant city or county, or a licensed Texas attorney before acting.