ATO Interpretative Decision
ATO ID 2002/643 (Withdrawn)
Excise
Excise - Payments - DFRS - Eligibility of dredging under Marine Transport categoryFOI status: may be released
-
This ATO ID is withdrawn and is replaced by ATO ID 2004/540This document incorporates revisions made since original publication. View its history and amending notices, if applicable.
This ATOID provides you with the following level of protection:
If you reasonably apply this decision in good faith to your own circumstances (which are not materially different from those described in the decision), and the decision is later found to be incorrect you will not be liable to pay any penalty or interest. However, you will be required to pay any underpaid tax (or repay any over-claimed credit, grant or benefit), provided the time limits under the law allow it. If you do intend to apply this decision to your own circumstances, you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed. You may wish to obtain further advice from the Tax Office or from a professional adviser.
Issue
For the purposes of the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme, does the activity of dredging fall within the definition of 'marine transport' in paragraph 164(1)(7) of the Customs Act 1901 (CA) and paragraph 78A(1)(ac) of the Excise Act 1901 (EA)?
Decision
For the purposes of the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme, dredging operations do not fall within the definition of 'marine transport' contained in paragraph 164(1)(7) of the CA and paragraph 78A(1)(ac) of the EA.
Facts
Dredging involves the use of a machine to remove, or 'dredge up', sand, silt or mud (or the like), usually from the bottom of a waterway. The material obtained by dredging is then disposed of in a variety of ways, such as being carried away by the dredging vessel, by another vessel or being pumped away through a pipe.
Reasons for Decision
The Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme provides that a rebate is payable in respect of diesel fuel purchased for certain usages, subject to certain conditions and restrictions. One of the specified usages is 'marine transport (otherwise than for the purpose of propelling a road vehicle on a public road) in the course of carrying on an enterprise'.
Subsection 78A(7) of the EA states that for the purposes of the Diesel Fuel Rebate Scheme, 'marine transport' has the same meaning as in subsection 164(7) of the CA.
Subsection 164(7) of the CA relevantly states:
Marine transport
includes transport by vessels in or on fresh water, but does not include any transport relating to forestry.
As the term 'marine transport' is not exhaustively defined under the legislation, the term should be given its ordinary and literal meaning as modified by the definition in subsection 164(7) of the CA.
Section 164(7) of the CA although inclusive, refers to 'transport'. Paragraph 78A(1)(ac) of the EA refers to use 'in marine transport'. Both of these provisions connote active involvement in transport which is relevantly defined in the Macquarie Dictionary (3rd Ed) as 'the act or method of transporting or conveying'.
To transport means 'to carry or convey from one place to another': Macquarie Dictionary (supra).
Dredging activities, although connected with transport in certain cases, are not transport within the normal meaning of that term as defined in the Macquarie Dictionary. Thus diesel fuel used for any purpose in or on a dredge is not used in 'marine transport' and will not attract the rebate.
Date of decision: 2 May 2002
Legislative References:
Excise Act
subsection 78A(7)
paragraph 78A(1)(ac)
paragraph 164(1)(ac)
subsection 164(7)
Keywords
Excise
Diesel fuel rebate scheme
DFRS marine
ISSN: 1445-2782
| Date: | Version: | |
| 2 May 2002 | Original statement | |
| You are here | 2 July 2004 | Archived |