ATO Interpretative Decision

ATO ID 2007/211 (Withdrawn)

Excise

Wine Equalisation Tax: beverage container deposit - WET taxable value
FOI status: may be released
  • This ATO ID is withdrawn as it is superseded by Wine Equalisation Tax Ruling WETR 2009/1
    This document has changed over time. View its history.

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you will need to ensure that the relevant provisions referred to in the decision have not been amended or repealed.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 an amount of money that a manufacturer separately identifies on an invoice as being a container deposit part of the taxable value for the purposes of Division 9 of the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999 (WET Act)?

Decision

Yes, an amount of money that a manufacturer separately identifies on an invoice as being a container deposit is part of the taxable value of wine for the purposes of Division 9 of the WET Act.

Facts

An entity is a manufacturer of wine as defined in section 31-1 of the WET Act and is registered for GST.

The entity sells the wine by wholesale sale.

The wine that is sold by the entity is subject to Division 2 of Part 8 of the Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA) (EPA). This Division establishes a set of requirements that apply to the sale of certain beverages when sold in containers of a certain size. Among other things the Division requires that:

the container has appropriate markings or labelling that inform the purchaser of their entitlement to receive an amount on delivery of the container to an approved collection point
beverages in containers covered by the Division may only be sold in areas in which a collection facility is present
collection depots must pay the refund amount to people who deliver the specified containers to the collection depot.

The entity has contracted with a super collector whereby the super collector pays the appropriate amount to the person who returns the containers.

The entity pays the super collector an amount to cover administration costs and the payments that the collection depots are required to pay in respect of returned containers.

Reasons for Decision

Subsection 9-5(1) of the WET Act provides that the general rules for calculating the taxable value of a taxable dealing are set out in the Assessable Dealings Table.

The Assessable Dealings Table is in section 5-5 of the WET Act and lists all the assessable dealings that are subject to wine tax with the taxable value determined by reference to Column 5 contained in that table.

Where an entity manufactures wine and sells the wine by wholesale sale, the relevant assessable dealing is AD1a in the Assessable Dealings Table. The normal taxable value specified in the table for AD1a is 'the *price (excluding wine tax and GST) for which the wine was sold'.

Price is defined in section 33-1 of the WET Act as having the meaning given by section 9-75 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act).

Subsection 9-75(1) of the GST Act provides that 'price' is the sum of the consideration for the supply expressed as an amount of money inclusive of GST and in lieu of receiving money, the GST inclusive market value of that consideration.

In this case the entity receives consideration in the form of money for the wholesale sale of the wine. The invoice includes a separate amount that the entity identifies on the invoice as being a container deposit.

It is considered that the amount identified on the invoice as being a container deposit is essentially a business cost to the entity, incurred by the entity in selling the wine in South Australia. The fact that the entity passes on this cost by itemising the amount on the invoice is irrelevant for the purposes of establishing the price for which the wine is sold and to this end should not be distinguished from any other cost that is accounted for by the entity in formulating its pricing structure for the sale.

For the reasons outlined above, an amount of money that a manufacturer attributes to a container deposit is part of the taxable value for the purposes of Division 9 of the WET Act.

Date of decision:  15 November 2007

Legislative References:
A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999
   Division 7
   section 5-5
   subsection 9-5(1)
   section 9-65
   section 33-1

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999
   Division 9
   section 9-15
   section 9-75

Environment Protection Act 1993 (SA)
   Division 2 of Part 8

Related Public Rulings (including Determinations)
Wine Equalisation Tax Ruling WETR 2004/1
Goods and Services Tax Ruling GSTR 2001/8
Goods and Services Tax Determination GSTD 2002/3

Related ATO Interpretative Decisions
ATO ID 2001/133
ATO ID 2006/87

Other References:
Environment Protection Authority (SA) Information release: Container deposit legislation (CDL) - A South Australian environmental success story. EPA 074/04-March 2004 viewed 22 October 2007

Keywords
WET taxable value
Wine
Wine equalisation tax

Business Line:  Excise

Date of publication:  23 November 2007

ISSN: 1445-2782

history
  Date: Version:
  15 November 2007 Original statement
You are here 17 July 2009 Archived