Excise on fuel and petroleum products
If your business manufactures, produces or stores excisable fuel or petroleum products in Australia, this information will help you understand your excise obligations.
Generally, you will need to:
- determine if the fuel or petroleum products you manufacture or store are excisable
- apply for a licence to manufacture or store these excisable goods
- lodge an excise return and pay excise duty on the goods you have used, sold or supplied
- keep complete and accurate records of your excise operations.
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Excise duty
Excise duty is a commodity-based tax on:
If you manufacture, produce or store these excisable goods in Australia, you:
- need to have an excise licence
- may need to pay excise duty.
If you deliver excisable fuel or petroleum products from an excise-licensed premises into the Australian domestic market (for home consumption), in most cases you must then lodge an excise return and pay excise duty.
Home consumption is a term used in the Excise Act to refer to how excise duty is only imposed on goods that will be used (or consumed) at home (that is, in the Australian domestic market). If those goods are exported, there is no excise duty payable.
Meaning of underbond
Excisable goods are underbond until you have paid the required excise duty on them. You need permission from us before you move underbond excisable goods between licensed premises or to a place of export.
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Fuel and petroleum products subject to excise
The following fuel or petroleum products are excisable goods if you manufacture, produce or store them in Australia:
- petroleum fuels, such as petrol and diesel
- gaseous fuels
- biofuels
- crude oil and condensate
- solvents, such as white spirits and turpentine
- lubricants, such as oils and greases
- recycled petroleum products.
Importing fuel and petroleum products
Fuel and petroleum products that you import into Australia are a type of excise equivalent good (EEG).
Instead of paying excise duty on imported fuel and petroleum products, you generally pay an equivalent customs duty.
If you use imported fuel (excluding biofuel) to manufacture excise fuel products, then you will still need to pay excise duty on the final product.
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Excise guidelines for the fuel industry
This publication, available on our Legal database, provides a broad outline of excise law and your compliance obligations. It's a reference tool for the fuel industry to assist you meet your excise obligations. The guidelines contain further details and examples on some aspects of the information provided in this website content.
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Excise statistics
We publish statistics and data on aspects of the excise system.
Bunker fuel
Ships' bunkers are generally described as:
- oil carried as fuel on oil-burning ships
- ships' fuel not listed on the manifest of cargo.
Bunker fuel includes all types of petroleum products – for example fuel oil, aviation fuel or diesel used by ships as fuel or to power auxiliary equipment, including helicopters.
If you import or acquire bunkers used in commercial shipping operations, you may have obligations and entitlements to various duty and tax requirements, including:
- customs duty
- excise duty
- GST and associated input tax credits
- fuel tax credits
- refunds of duty.
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Businesses that manufacture, produce or store excisable fuel and petroleum products in Australia need to understand and meet their excise obligations, including licensing, lodgment, payment and record keeping.