Luxury car tax

Quoting your ABN

In some circumstances you can quote your ABN (using an approved format) at the time you purchase or import a luxury car. By doing this, you can defer payment of LCT until the car is sold or imported at the retail level.

Who can quote?

You can quote your ABN to defer paying LCT when you purchase or import a luxury car if all of the following apply:

• you are registered for GST
• you have an ABN
• you intend to use the car for one of the following purposes only
• holding the car for trading stock, other than holding it for hire or lease
• carrying out research and development for the manufacturer of the car
• exporting the car where the export is GST-free under GST law.

If you are a retail car dealer and you purchase a car to use only as a demonstrator vehicle for potential customers to see or test drive, you are holding the car as trading stock and can quote on the purchase of the car.

If you are a business and import a luxury car with the intention of restoring and selling it, you are holding it as trading stock. Provided you do not intend to use the car for any other purpose, you are entitled to quote.

You are considered holding a car for purposes other than trading stock and will not be entitled to quote for it if you intend to use the luxury car for any of the following reasons:

• for personal use
• for rally or race driving
• for staff salary packaging
• for promotion or sponsorship purposes
• as an executive vehicle
• as a capital asset.

This applies even if you intend to sell the car at a later date.

If you have quoted your ABN and then use the luxury car for a non-quotable purpose, you must pay the LCT (see Increasing change of use adjustment).

If you are not registered for GST, you cannot quote your ABN in order to defer paying LCT on a luxury car.

When to quote

You must quote your ABN at or before the time of your purchase or importation of the luxury car. You cannot quote after buying the luxury car.

If you are charged LCT on a luxury car for which you were entitled to quote your ABN, you can claim an LCT adjustment on your activity statement, provided you are registered for LCT as well as GST (see Accounting for LCT).

How to quote

Your quote must be made in the following format:

The quote must be on, or attached to one of the following:

• the order for the luxury car
• any other document provided to the supplier or Australian Customs and Border Protection Service that clearly identifies the car; for example, a contract, import warrant or letter.

It is up to you to have the quote in the approved format, printed on the relevant documentation or have the forms printed to meet your requirements. If the order or document the quote relates to has more than one car on it, you must clearly identify the luxury cars the quote relates to.

Quotes to cover several purchases over time (periodic quotation)

If you purchase several luxury cars in Australia over a period of time, you can give your supplier a single quote to cover all your purchases for a period of 12 months or less. This is called a 'periodic quotation of an ABN'.

You cannot use a periodic quotation when importing luxury cars.

The periodic quotation must be in the following format:

You do not need approval from us to use a periodic quotation and any luxury car supplier can accept one for cars purchased in Australia.

You must be able to clearly identify each luxury car you purchased during the quotation period. If you plan to purchase more luxury cars after the end of your specified quotation period, you will need to give your supplier a new periodic quotation.

Non-quotable purchases and periodic quotations

During the period covered by a periodic quotation, you may need to buy a luxury car for a non-quotable purpose. You must tell your supplier that the luxury car is to be used for a non-quotable purpose before you purchase it. The notification must be in the following format:

If you do not tell the supplier that a car is to be used for a non-quotable purpose and obtain the car free of LCT, you must account for it in your activity statement as an increasing change of use adjustment.

Quoting on luxury cars you import

If you enter a luxury car for home consumption, you must do one of the following:

• complete the approved Australian Customs and Border Protection Service entry forms, including the sections about quotation of an ABN
• provide Australian Customs and Border Protection Service with a quotation in the following format:

You or your Australian Customs and Border Protection Service agent must specify in writing (in the field provided on the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service forms) the specific luxury car or cars that are being quoted for. The ABN must be entered in the field provided on the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service forms. You can authorise a Australian Customs and Border Protection Service agent to quote your ABN on your behalf, but you must do this in writing and you must make sure that the agent quotes correctly under the LCT and Customs law.

Who can sign a quote

The person who can sign a quote depends on the type of entity they are quoting for, as outlined in the following table:

Entity	Who can sign
Individual	That individual
Partnership	Any one of the partners resident in Australia
Trust	Any one of the trustees resident in Australia, or if none is resident, their agent in Australia
Company	The public officer

If you are the person listed in the table and it is not possible or not practicable for you to sign the quotes, you may authorise someone else (the authorised person) to sign for you. The authorised person must have enough knowledge of the business to be able to speak for you. You do not have to tell us about the authorised person, but you must keep a record of your authorisation.