Key Documents
In the March 2022–23 Budget, the former government announced a package of measures to streamline the administration of fuel and alcohol excise.
Two measures of the package were legislated in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Refining and Improving our Tax System) Bill 2023 which received Royal assent on 28 June 2023, with a 1 July 2023 start date. These measures were:
- aligning excise and customs reporting with other indirect taxes
- small‑scale repackaging of beer into smaller containers (growlers measure).
In the March 2023–24 Budget, the government amended the start date for the remaining measures from 1 July 2023 to 1 July 2024
In the 2023–24 MYEFO the government announced the uniform business experience component of the package would no longer proceed due to design complexities identified during implementation of that component.
The government is now consulting on proposed legislation to deliver the remaining components of this package.
Licensing, condensate and public license register
To streamline and align licence application and renewal requirements for entities who hold excise licences or customs warehouse licences to manufacture or store alcohol and fuel by:
- removing the renewal requirements so that the licences are ongoing
- removing the fees associated with applying, renewing and varying these licences
- enabling a licence to be granted in relation to one or more premises and providing default movement permission for the goods
- removing the requirement for onshore producers of crude oil and condensate to hold a licence where the production threshold for the field is less than 30 million barrels
- establishing a public register, published on the ATO website, containing the licence holder’s name, ABN, and type of licence.
Time limits and removal of fuel regulatory barriers
To ensure greater consistency and simplification by:
- amending the time limit to apply for a refund of excise overpayments to 4 years after payment, to align with refunds of customs duty and other indirect tax refunds
- permitting the refund of excise‑equivalent customs duty already paid on petroleum‑based oils used in the further manufacture of petroleum lubricants, to align treatment of excise‑equivalent customs duty with excise duty
- removing the requirement to pay and then claim refunds for excise or excise‑equivalent customs duty on fuels used in commercial shipping (‘bunker fuels’), aligning their treatment with the duty‑free treatment of bunker fuels for international voyages
- setting a single rate for businesses to calculate and claim Vapour Recovery Unit refunds.
Please note: this proposed draft legislation also seeks to amend legislation within the Department of Home Affairs portfolio. Treasury will share submissions as appropriate. Separate submissions do not need to be made to that department.