Fuel tax credits for business

Penalties and interest charges

You may be liable for a penalty if you claim more fuel tax credits than you are eligible for. You may also have to pay a general interest charge, which will be worked out from either the due date of the BAS on which you made the over claim or the BAS to which the adjustment relates.

If you make corrections on a BAS immediately after the original claim, you will not receive the general interest charge (GIC) or a penalty. However, there are rules about when you can do this.

We are not necessarily bound by these arrangements in cases where we find you are misrepresenting your fuel use intentions or making unreasonable or unsupportable claims.

If you find a mistake you made in a BAS you lodged before your last one, you must revise your original BAS. In these cases, you must pay the general interest charge and you may have to pay a penalty. However, if you voluntarily disclose the mistake to us, this will be taken into account when we are considering any penalty.

If we conduct an audit or review and you must repay over claimed fuel tax credits, the general interest charge will apply and you may have to pay a penalty. You can claim general interest charges as a deduction on your business's income tax return.

If you receive an overpayment of fuel tax credits, the overpaid amount should be treated as tax that is due. This means that you must repay the overpayment plus any penalties and the GIC owing from the date of the overpayment.

For more information about the rules and limits when correcting mistakes, refer to Fuel tax credits - making adjustments and correcting mistakes (NAT 15681).

Sections within Adjustments and mistakes

• Adjustments
• Mistakes
• Penalties and interest charges