From 1 July 2010, excise duty and its administration or collection is included in our general rulings system.
You can now apply for private rulings about the administration or collection of excise duty and these will be legally binding. A private ruling is provided in writing and applies to you and your specific circumstances. You do not have to rely on a ruling but if you do rely on it, we are legally bound to administer the law in accordance with that ruling. You can also object to a ruling if you disagree with it.
Previously, you could apply for administratively binding advice (ABA) on excise matters. This advice was not legally binding although, in general, we stood by that advice.
From 1 July 2010, no new ABA will be issued. However, existing ABA will be retained and continue to have the same administratively binding status as outlined above.
You will need to apply for a private ruling if you want a legally binding ruling to cover the particular circumstances in your ABA.
We can now also issue public rulings (including product and class rulings) about excise matters, which are legally binding. A public ruling is a published written document, labelled as a public ruling, which contains advice on the way the law applies in defined circumstances that are common to a group of taxpayers. We will develop public rulings for excise over time.
A private ruling will apply until it is withdrawn or replaced by us with another private ruling or a public ruling. If a private ruling has an end-date specified, then it only applies until that date.
If you are issued with a private ruling and you do not agree with it, you will be able to directly object to that ruling. The process for lodging an objection follows the same basic process you followed to obtain the ruling.
Limits apply to when you can object to a private ruling. In particular, you cannot object to a ruling if either of the following apply:
- we have made a reviewable decision about the excise duty or other amount payable in relation to those goods
- more than 60 days have passed since we made the ruling.
If we revise either a private or public excise ruling, the revised ruling only applies to transactions occurring after the date of the revised ruling. We may provide you with extra time to take a revised private ruling into account by specifying a later start date.
Oral rulings are not issued for business matters. Therefore, you cannot apply for an oral ruling in relation to excise.
For more information on excise advice:
Last Modified: Thursday, 13 January 2011