Excise duty
Excise duty is a commodity-based tax on:
- alcohol (except products wine equalisation tax applies to)
- fuel and petroleum products
- tobacco.
If you manufacture, produce or store these excisable goods in Australia, you:
- need to hold 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), you need to lodge an excise return and pay excise duty.
Home consumption is a term used in the Excise Act 1901 to refer to how excise duty is only imposed on goods that will be used (or consumed) in the Australian domestic market. If those goods are exported, there is no excise duty payable.
Fuel and petroleum products subject to excise
These are examples of fuel or petroleum products that 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 excisable fuel products, you still need to pay excise duty on the final product.
Legal guidelines for fuel excise
We publish Excise guidelines for the fuel industry on our Legal database. This provides a broad outline of the excise laws and compliance obligations for the fuel industry. It's a reference tool to help you get things right. The guidelines also contain further terms, details and examples.
Excise statistics
For recent liabilities statistics and data, refer to Taxation statistics – excise and fuel scheme statistics.
Key excise terms
Term |
Meaning |
|---|---|
Automatic remission |
An excise remission that does not require you to submit an application. In all cases you must maintain appropriate records. |
Deliver into the Australian domestic market |
When excisable fuel and petroleum products are released into domestic consumption. The term used in the legislation is 'deliver for home consumption'. Normally this will be by delivering the goods away from the excise-licensed premises but also includes:
'Home consumption' is explained in the table below. |
Excisable goods |
Goods that are subject to excise duty as specified in the Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act 1921. |
Excise duty |
A commodity-based tax on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel and petroleum products manufactured or produced in Australia. |
Excise drawback |
A repayment of the excise duty you've paid (either directly or in the purchase price) on goods that you subsequently exported. |
Excise-licensed premises |
One that is licensed by us, under the Excise Act 1901. The premises covered will be specified on the excise licence. |
Excise refund |
A refund you can claim from us for excise duty you've paid on goods delivered for domestic consumption in certain situations. Any refund you receive is assessable income for income tax purposes, so you need to include it in your tax return. |
Excise remission |
A remission cancels the liability to pay excise duty. |
Excise licence |
An excise licence enables you to legally manufacture, produce and / or store excisable goods in Australia. There are different types and they each have conditions and obligations you need to comply with. |
Excise equivalent goods (EEGs) |
Imported alcohol, tobacco, or fuel and petroleum products that would be subject to excise duty if they were manufactured or produced in Australia. Instead of paying excise duty on EEGs, you generally pay an equivalent customs duty. |
Home consumption |
Refers to the destination of the excisable goods as being within Australia rather than exporting them. |
Movement permission |
Enables you to legally move underbond excisable goods between excise-licensed premises or to a place of export. |
Periodic settlement permission (PSP) |
Allows you to:
|
Underbond |
Excisable goods are underbond while it is subject to our control. Our control ceases when excisable goods have been delivered into the Australian domestic market, exported or a remission has been applied. The excisable goods are no longer underbond in the following examples:
|
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. This is 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
- fuel tax credits
- refunds of duty.