ATO Interpretative Decision

ATO ID 2006/49 (Withdrawn)

Excise

Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme: off-road - forestry - supervision of work crews
FOI status: may be released

This ATO ID is withdrawn from 1 July 2012, the date the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003 was repealed.
Despite its withdrawal, this ATO ID continues to be a precedential ATO view in respect of the period the Act was in force, 1 July 2003 up to and including 30 June 2012.

This document incorporates revisions made since original publication. View its history and amending notices, if applicable.

Status of this decision: Decision Withdrawn 1 July 2012

CAUTION: This is an edited and summarised record of a Tax Office decision. This record is not published as a form of advice. It is being made available for your inspection to meet FOI requirements, because it may be used by an officer in making another decision.

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you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed.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

Is the off-road use of a road vehicle in travelling between coupes within a forest or plantation, in order to provide on-site supervision to work crews engaged in the planting and tending of trees, 'forestry' for the purposes of section 35 of the Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003 (EGCSA)?

Decision

Yes. The off-road use of a road vehicle to travel within a forest or plantation in order to give on-site supervision to work crews engaged in the planting and tending of trees, is 'forestry' for the purposes of section 35 of the EGCSA.

Facts

An entity carries on a forestry enterprise in the form of a plantation to produce trees for felling.

Forestry employees are engaged in work crews in various activities in the plantation, such as the planting of seedlings, weed control, the pruning of young trees and the making and maintaining of firebreaks.

The entity has advised that the effective and efficient performance of the activities requires the regular supervision of a person qualified or knowledgeable in silvicultural practice.

A supervisor regularly travels to the various sites in the plantation where those activities are carried out by the work crews. The supervisor attends these sites to ensure that the forestry activities are effectively and efficiently carried out.

The supervisor travels in a road vehicle. The road vehicle does not travel on any public road.

Reasons for Decision

'Forestry' is relevantly defined in section 35 of the EGCSA as follows:

The expression forestry means:

(a): the planting or tending, in a forest or plantation, of trees intended for felling; or
(b): the thinning or felling, in a forest or plantation, of standing timber;; ...

Activities that constitute the planting or tending trees intended for felling fall within paragraph (a) of the definition of in section 35 of the EGCSA.

The activities carried out by the forestry employees are within the meaning of 'forestry'.

The effective and efficient performance of the activities requires the regular supervision of a person qualified or knowledgeable in silvicultural practice. Therefore the supervision is properly regarded as an integral part of the activities of 'planting or tending' within paragraph 35(a) of the EGCSA and 'thinning or felling' within paragraph 35(b) of the EGCSA.

Therefore, the off-road use of a vehicle for the purpose of supervising work crews engaged in the planting and tending of trees in a forest is 'forestry' for the purposes of section 35 of the EGCSA.

Date of decision: 1 December 2005

Legislative References:
Energy Grants (Credits) Scheme Act 2003
paragraph 35(a)

Related Public Rulings (including Determinations)
Product Grants and Benefits Ruling PGBR 2005/1

Related ATO Interpretative Decisions
ATO ID 2004/424
ATO ID 2006/47
ATO ID 2006/48

Keywords
EGCS forestry
EGCS off-road
EGCS planting or tending
Energy grants (credits) scheme

Business Line: Indirect Tax

Date of publication: 24 February 2006

ISSN: 1445-2782

history

	Date:	Version:
	1 December 2005	Original statement
You are here →	1 July 2012	Archived

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