Excise return
How to complete the Excise return form.
On this page
When to use this form
Use this form to either:
- report excise liabilities arising under a periodic settlement permission (PSP)
- request authorisation to deliver excisable goods into home consumption (into the Australian domestic market).
The return form
The Excise return form is designed to be completed on a desktop or laptop computer (not on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet). You'll need to use Adobe ReaderExternal Link software to view the form.
Because this is an electronic form, you can type your answers straight into the boxes provided.
Some questions will only be displayed if we need you to answer them. If you want to see all the questions before filling in the form, use the Print form with all questions button to print a copy.
How to get the form
Double-clicking the form won't open it. The form will not load on a mobile device, tablet or within a browser.
To complete the form, you must save it to your desktop computer or laptop (with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat installed) by following these steps:
- To download, right click on Excise return (NAT 4285, PDF 1.42MB)This link will download a file.
- Select Save target as (or a similar option depending on your internet browser) to save it to your computer.
- To open your saved form, right click on the PDF file in the folder it was saved in, select Open with then select Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
- Enable JavaScript if prompted before filling in the form. If JavaScript is not enabled, additional questions will not be populated and the form will be incomplete.
- Once you've completed your form, save it using the Save form button at the end of the form.
Note: Update your default app for PDF file types to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to open all PDF files with Adobe Acrobat.
Instructions for completing the return form
These instructions will help you to complete the Excise return form.
Your details
Provide the legal name of the person or business liable to pay excise duty. Do not provide a business name if it's different to the legal name. A business name is a name registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
It's not compulsory to provide your Australian business number (ABN), however it will help us to process your return promptly.
If you operate your business as a trust, enter the ABN of the trustee in its capacity as trustee for the trust.
Your client account number is linked to your ABN and is used to identify your excise account with us.
Lodgment details
If you do not have a periodic settlement permission
If you do not have a periodic settlement permission, you must lodge an Excise return and prepay excise duty before you can deliver excisable goods into the Australian domestic market.
Provide the establishment number for the location you intend to remove the goods from.
Is a payment required for this return?
If your goods are eligible for the alcohol remission scheme, and this reduces the amount payable to nil, select No and continue to Product details.
If a payment is required for this return, has the required payment been made?
If you have excise duty payable on your return, your return will not be processed until payment has been made.
If payment has been made, provide the date of payment.
You can expect your prepayment returns to be processed within 2 business days of us receiving all the necessary information.
Once we've received payment (where applicable) and approved your return, we will issue you with a delivery authority allowing you to physically move the goods from the licensed premises and deliver them into the Australian domestic market (for home consumption).
If you have a periodic settlement permission
A periodic settlement permission (PSP) allows you to:
- Deliver excisable goods into the Australian domestic market (for home consumption) over the specified settlement period.
- Defer lodging your excise return and paying excise duty until a specified date.
You must lodge an excise return (usually weekly or monthly) detailing the deliveries you made during the settlement period and pay excise duty on these goods if applicable.
Provide your permission number and the settlement period in the space provided.
Do you have any product details to report?
If you have product details to report, including goods that are eligible for the Excise remission scheme for manufacturers of alcoholic beverages (excise remission scheme), select Yes and continue to Product details.
If you have not delivered any excisable goods into home consumption during the settlement period, select No. This will indicate the lodgment is a nil return.
Product details
You can enter different types of excisable goods on the one return. For example, beer, spirits and fuel can be entered on the same return.
Complete a separate line for each tariff item number. It may be necessary to complete 2 lines for the same tariff item where the alcohol remission scheme applies to some products and not to others.
Label A: Tariff item
Excisable goods are classified with tariff item or subitem numbers in The Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act 1921 (the Schedule). Each tariff item has a number allocated to it. You need to complete a separate line for each tariff item number.
Provide the tariff item number for each excisable good at label A, as shown in the following examples.
Tariff items
Tariff item in Schedule
|
Label A tariff item
|
3.1
|
0301
|
3.10
|
0310
|
10.3
|
1003
|
10.30
|
1030
|
10.19A
|
1019A
|
If you don't know which tariff item applies, refer to Excise duty rates for alcohol, or Excise duty rates for fuel and petroleum products.
Label B: Quantity in dutiable units
The quantity in dutiable units is the amount or volume of product you have delivered into the Australian domestic market (for home consumption) and are liable to pay excise duty on. This is known as dutiable quantity.
This field also includes the measurement unit you are using to report the volume (or mass). Most excise tariff items listed in the Schedule have a measurement unit specified for that type of good. This is known as a dutiable unit.
The following are examples of dutiable units:
- litres of alcohol
- kilograms of compressed natural gas
- litres of fuel (other than blended fuels).
As excise duty is not payable on the first 1.15% of alcohol content in beer, use the following formula when calculating the dutiable quantity of beer products:
Total litres of beer × (alcohol strength – 1.15%) = dutiable quantity
The alcohol strength for all alcoholic beverages is calculated on the labelled strength or actual strength of the product, whichever is higher.
Reporting dutiable quantity for:
- alcohol - truncate to one decimal place
- fuels - to the nearest litre or kilogram
- crude and condensate - round kilolitres to one decimal place.
Provide the quantity in dutiable units and select the unit type at label B.
Quantity for blended fuels including biofuel blends
Blended fuels are products listed under tariff item numbers 10.7, 10.12 and 10.30.
The dutiable quantity for blended fuels is the total quantity of the blend in litres, regardless of whether duty has been paid.
Label C: Statistical quantity for blended fuel
Excise tariff items for blended fuel also have a second measurement unit type, known as statistical quantity.
The statistical quantity is the proportion of the blended product which is biodiesel, ethanol or water. Report this as a whole amount with no decimal places.
Provide the statistical quantity of the product in litres at label C.
Label D: Duty rate
Each excise tariff item listed in the Schedule has a rate of excise duty.
The duty rate for beer is determined by the strength of the product and the size and type of the container.
For blended fuels the rate of duty is the amount of duty worked out under section 6G of the Excise Tariff Act 1921.
Provide the relevant rate of excise duty for your product at label D.
Label E: Excise amount
The excise amount is the excise liability (if any) for each line you've entered on your return. When you fill in the form online, the excise amount for each line is calculated for you by multiplying the quantity in dutiable units (label B) by the rate of excise duty (label D).
If you are reporting blended fuels, and you need to deduct any excise duty previously paid, please contact us for a different version of the Excise return form.
Label F: Apply alcohol manufacturer remission
If you are eligible for the alcohol remission scheme, select Yes for each line to which this applies, to the cap amount. The remission amount (label F) will equal the excise amount (label E).
If you are not eligible for the alcohol remission scheme, select No for each line to which this applies. The remission amount (label F) will be nil.
If only some of your products are eligible for the alcohol remission scheme, ensure the goods are entered on separate lines and select:
- Yes for eligible goods, and
- No for goods that are not eligible.
Note: You cannot apply more than $350,000 of the alcohol remission per financial year. If you obtained your manufacturer licence partway through a financial year, you will need to calculate an adjusted cap. Calculate the maximum remission for that year by multiplying $350,000 by the number of days in the financial year that you held your manufacturer licence divided by the number of days in the financial year.
Example licence obtained partway through the year
Brewery Co obtained their excise manufacturer licence on 1 March 2022. They held the licence for 122 days in the 2022 financial year. Brewery Co's adjusted cap is:
$350,000 x 122/365 days = $116,986.30
End of exampleWhat to do when you reach the cap
Once you have reached the $350,000 (or adjusted) cap in a financial year, you can no longer apply the alcohol remission scheme. This means you must select No for all product reported for the rest of the financial year.
If you reach your cap partway through a reporting period, you will need to use separate lines and select:
- Yes for eligible product lines up to the cap amount
- No for the remaining product lines.
You will need to do separate lines, even if the product is the same tariff item.
Example: reaching the alcohol remission cap
Distillery Co have applied $325,000 automatic remission in their excise returns, up to October 2022. This means they only have $25,000 automatic remission they can apply in future returns before they reach the $350,000 cap for that financial year.
The excise duty payable on product included in their November 2022 excise return, before applying the remission, is $90,000.
Distillery Co need to use separate lines in the Product details section, to apply the remission:
- Line 1 Tariff subitem 3.2 Excise amount $25,000 – Label F Apply alcohol remission to this line – select Yes
- Line 2 Tariff subitem 3.2 Excise amount $65,000 - Label F Apply alcohol remission to this line - select No
Distillery Co will also need to select No at Label F Apply alcohol remission to this line, on all excise returns for the remainder of the financial year.
End of exampleNote: You may not be able to apply exactly $350,000 of automatic remission. However, the total applied must be as close as possible to $350,000 for the year.
Reporting and paying when your settlement period overlaps with an excise duty rate change
If excise duty rates change for your excisable goods during your settlement period, you will need to lodge either:
- a single excise return – with different product lines for products delivered before the rate change and products delivered from the date of the rate change
- 2 separate excise returns – one for products delivered before the rate change, and one for products delivered from the date of the rate change.
Rate changes occur due to:
- a graduated annual increase in the excise duty on biodiesel until 2030
- the indexation of alcohol and fuel goods every 6 months in February and August by reference to CPI (consumer price index)
- government changes to duty rates.
Example: settlement period overlaps excise duty rate change
RTD2Go is a licensed excise manufacturer delivering ready-to-drinks (RTDs). They hold a PSP with a settlement period that commences each Wednesday and concludes at midnight on the following Tuesday.
For the weekly settlement period starting 27 July 2022, RTD2Go delivered 100 litres of alcohol (LALs). 80 LALs were delivered on Friday 29 July 2022 and 20 LALs were delivered from 1 August 2022 to 2 August 2022.
The rate of excise duty for other excisable beverages not exceeding 10% (item 2.0 in the Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act 1921) increased on Monday 1 August 2022 from $90.78 per LAL to $94.41 per LAL.
RTD2Go had 2 options in reporting the RTDs delivered into home consumption.
Option 1: Lodge a single excise return
RTD2Go lodged an excise return using separate product line entries for RTDs delivered at the old excise duty rate and at the new rate.
Single excise return for settlement period: 27/07/2022 to 02/08/2022
Line no.
|
Tariff item
|
Quantity
|
Units
|
Duty rate
|
Excise amount
|
001
|
2.0
|
80
|
LAL
|
$90.78
|
$7,262.40
|
002
|
2.0
|
20
|
LAL
|
$94.41
|
$1,888.20
|
Option 2: Lodge two excise returns
RTD2Go lodged 2 excise returns, one for RTDs delivered at the rate that applied until 31 July 2022, and one for RTDs delivered at the rate that applied from 1 August 2022.
Excise return for settlement period: 27/07/2022 to 31/07/2022
Line no.
|
Tariff item
|
Quantity
|
Units
|
Duty rate
|
Excise amount
|
001
|
2.0
|
80
|
LAL
|
$90.78
|
$7,262.40
|
Excise return for settlement period: 01/08/2022 to 02/08/2022
Line
|
Tariff item
|
Quantity
|
Units
|
Duty rate
|
Excise amount
|
001
|
2.0
|
20
|
LAL
|
$94.41
|
$1,888.20
|
End of exampleExcise duty summary
The amounts in the excise duty summary are automatically calculated from the 'Product details' table.
Total excise amount
This is the total of all excise duty amounts (label E) from each line in the 'Product details' table.
Total alcohol manufacturer remission
This is the total of all alcohol remission scheme amounts (label F) from each line in the 'Product details' table.
You must monitor the amount of alcohol remission you have applied during the financial year. Once you have reached a total remission amount of $350,000 (or adjusted amount), you can no longer apply the remission to any goods entered into the Australian domestic market (for home consumption) for the remainder of the financial year.
Total excise duty payable
This is the amount of excise duty payable for this return. It is the total excise amount less any amounts applied under the alcohol remission scheme.
This is the amount you must pay to us.
Declaration
You, or a person who is authorised to act on your behalf, must complete the declaration. If the applicant is an entity, the declaration can only be completed by a primary contact or an authorised contact.
If you lodge this return through Online services for business, your electronic credential will be accepted as your electronic signature.
Lodging your return
Before you lodge your return, make sure you have completed all the relevant sections.
Keep a copy of your completed return for your records and lodge the original through:
- secure mail in Online services for business
- practice mail in Online services for agents
- mail to
Australian Taxation Office
PO Box 3007
PENRITH NSW 2740
Lodge through Online services for business
If you use Online services for business to lodge your return, it is more secure and will be processed faster than if you lodge by mail.
Follow these steps to lodge through secure mail in Online services for business:
- Fill in the return form
- Save the completed form as a PDF to your computer
- Log in to Online services for business
- Select Communication, then Secure mail
- Create a New message
- Select View more topics from the Topic list
- Select Excise from the Other topics list
- Select Excise returns from the Subject list
- Attach the return form
- Provide your contact details and complete the declaration
- Select send.
You will receive a receipt number once you've lodged your return.
Tracking your return progress
You can track the progress of your return in Online services for business.
Select Your dealings from the Communication menu.
You can also view your excise account to see the financial outcome of your return.
Lodge through Online services for agents
Follow these steps to lodge through practice mail in Online services for agents:
- Select Communication, then Practice mail
- Create a New message
- Select View more topics from the Topic list
- Select Excise from the Other topics list
- Select Collections returns from the Subject list
- Select I am enquiring on behalf of client from the Enquiry type
- Search for and select your client
- Attach the return form
- Provide your contact details and complete the declaration
- Select send.
You will receive a receipt number once the message has successfully been sent.
Correcting errors
If you have made an error and need to amend the product details that you previously reported in an Excise return, you will need to complete an Excise amendment form.
Service standards
You can expect your return to be processed within 28 days of us receiving all the necessary information.
If your return is incomplete, we will contact you for more information. If the information is not provided after a reasonable period, you must relodge the return.
Contact us
If you need more information, you can contact us or visit:
How to complete the Excise return form.Last modified: 19 Dec 2022QC 21424