{"id":"F2023L01285","name":"Fuel Tax (Correcting Fuel Tax Errors) Determination 2023","slug":"fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":442097,"registerId":"F2023L01285-fast-fetch-1775957197898","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-12","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Fuel Tax (Correcting Fuel Tax Errors) Determination 2023","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\" standalone=\"no\"?>\n\n ![Commonwealth Coat of Arms of Australia](image.001.jpeg)\n\n \n\nFuel Tax (Correcting Fuel Tax Errors) Determination 2023\n\n \n\nI, Ben Kelly, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, make the following determination.\n\nDated  6 September 2023\n\nBen Kelly\n\nDeputy Commissioner of Taxation\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nContents\n\n1  Name\n\n2  Commencement\n\n3  Authority\n\n4  Definitions\n\n5  Schedules\n\n6  When an error may be corrected\n\n7  Conditions for correcting a debit error\n\n8  Error cannot be corrected by amending an assessment for a later tax period\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\nFuel Tax: Correcting Fuel Tax Errors Determination 2013\n\n \n\n1  Name\n\n  This instrument is the Fuel Tax (Correcting Fuel Tax Errors) Determination 2023.\n\n2  Commencement\n\n (1) Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.\n\n \n\n- Commencement information\n- Column 1 Column 2 Column 3\n- Provisions Commencement Date/Details\n- 1. The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered.\n\n\nNote: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.\n\n (2) Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.\n\n3  Authority\n\n  This instrument is made under subsection 60-10(1) of the Act.\n\n4  Definitions\n\nNote: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in section 110-5 of the Act, including the following:\n\n(a)      assessed net fuel amount;\n\n(b)      assessment;\n\n(c)      fuel tax law;\n\n(d)      GST group;\n\n(e)      net fuel amount;\n\n(f)       period of review;\n\n(g)      tax period.\n\n  In this instrument:\n\nAct means the Fuel Tax Act 2006.\n\nCommissioner means the Commissioner of Taxation.\n\ncompliance activity means an examination of your fuel tax affairs (other than an activity that the Commissioner notifies you in writing is not a compliance activity for the purposes of this instrument), and begins on the day the Commissioner advises you that an examination is to be made and ends on the day when the Commissioner:\n\n (a) gives a notice of assessment or amended assessment in relation to the tax period under examination; or\n\n (b) advises you that the examination has been finalised.\n\nNote: A compliance activity can be any examination of your fuel tax affairs, including matters related to reviews, audits, verification checks, record-keeping reviews or audits, and other similar activities.\n\ncredit error means a mistake you made in working out your net fuel amount for an earlier tax period that would, if it was the only mistake made in the tax period, have resulted in your assessed net fuel amount for that earlier tax period being overstated, but does not include:\n\n (a) a fuel tax credit, to the extent to which your entitlement to that fuel tax credit has ceased under Division 47 of the Act; or\n\n (b) an omission of a fuel tax credit in its entirety in working out your net fuel amount for the tax period to which it would have been attributable under subsections 65-5(1), (2) or (3) of the Act.\n\ncredit error amount means the amount by which the assessed net fuel amount for an earlier tax period would be overstated because of a credit error.\n\ndebit error means a mistake you made in working out your net fuel amount for an earlier tax period that would, if it was the only mistake made in the tax period, have resulted in your assessed net fuel amount for that earlier tax period being understated.\n\ndebit error amount means the amount by which the assessed net fuel amount for an earlier tax period would be understated because of a debit error.\n\nerror means a credit error or debit error.\n\nfuel tax return has the same meaning as in section 995-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.\n\nnet sum of the debit errors means the sum of any debit error amounts, less the sum of any credit error amounts, which you include in the net fuel amount for the tax period in which you seek to correct a debit error for an earlier tax period.\n\n5  Schedules\n\n  Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.\n\n6  When an error may be corrected\n\n  In working out your net fuel amount for a tax period, you may correct an error you made in an earlier tax period if:\n\n (a) the error relates to an amount of fuel tax credit or any adjustments under the Act;\n\n (b) the earlier tax period started on or after 1 July 2012;\n\n (c) you lodge the fuel tax return for the tax period within the period of review for the assessment of the net fuel amount of the earlier tax period;\n\n (d) at the time of lodging your fuel tax return for the tax period:\n\n (i) the error does not relate to a matter that you have been notified is subject to a compliance activity, and was not made in working out your net fuel amount for an earlier tax period that is subject to compliance activity; or\n\n (ii) if paragraph (i) does not apply, the Commissioner has notified you in writing that the error can be corrected under this instrument;\n\n (e) you have not corrected that error, to any extent, in working out your net fuel amount for another tax period;\n\n (f) where the error is a debit error, the conditions in section 7 are met; and\n\n (g) you are registered for GST.\n\n7  Conditions for correcting a debit error\n\n  In working out your net fuel amount for a tax period, a debit error you made in an earlier tax period may be corrected if:\n\n (a) the error was not a result of recklessness as to the operation of a fuel tax law or intentional disregard of a fuel tax law;\n\n (b) the error is corrected in a fuel tax return that is lodged within the debit error time limit that corresponds with your current GST turnover specified in the table below; and\n\n (c) the net sum of the debit errors is less than the debit error value limit that corresponds with your current GST turnover specified in the table below.\n\n \n\n| Current GST turnover | Debit error time limit | Debit error value limit |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Less than $20 million | 18 months after the due date of the fuel tax return for the tax period in which the error was made | $12,500 |\n| $20 million to less than $100 million | 12 months after the due date of the fuel tax return for the tax period in which the error was made | $25,000 |\n| $100 million to less than $500 million | 12 months after the due date of the fuel tax return for the tax period in which the error was made | $50,000 |\n| $500 million to less than $1 billion | 12 months after the due date of the fuel tax return for the tax period in which the error was made | $100,000 |\n| $1 billion and over | 12 months after the due date of the fuel tax return for the tax period in which the error was made | $560,000 |\n\n\nNote: For a GST group, the current GST turnover is calculated for the group by including supplies that you and any other GST group members make in accordance with subsection 188-15(2) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999.\n\n8  Error cannot be corrected by amending an assessment for a later tax period\n\n  You cannot correct an error made in working out your net fuel amount for an earlier tax period by requesting an amendment of your fuel tax return for a later tax period.\n\n\n\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\nFuel Tax: Correcting Fuel Tax Errors Determination 2013\n\n1  The whole of the instrument\n\nRepeal the instrument\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This is a straightforward re-enactment and update of the 2013 Determination. The scope remains limited to administrative corrections of fuel tax errors and has not expanded beyond this original purpose. The turnover thresholds and dollar limits have been updated, but the fundamental scope is unchanged."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple defined terms (8 specific definitions plus 7 terms imported from the parent Act)","Nested conditional logic in section 6 with 7 separate criteria that must all be satisfied","Tiered thresholds in section 7 with 5 different turnover brackets, each with different time limits and dollar caps","Cross-references to 3 separate Acts (Fuel Tax Act 2006, GST Act 1999, Income Tax Assessment Act 1997)","Exception clauses within definitions (credit error excludes certain fuel tax credit situations)","Interaction between credit errors and debit errors in calculating the 'net sum of debit errors'"],"plain_english_summary":"This Determination replaces the 2013 rules and lets GST-registered businesses that claim fuel tax credits (eg, transport operators, farmers, miners) correct certain mistakes in fuel tax returns without lodging formal amendments.  \n\nIt streamlines honest corrections but treats overclaims more tightly, excludes periods under audit or before 1 July 2012, and preserves limits that mean large or reckless errors may still need formal amendments or attract penalties."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This instrument repeals the Fuel Tax: Correcting Fuel Tax Errors Determination 2013 (Schedule 1) and sets the current rules for when and how taxpayers may correct earlier fuel tax calculation errors, including new/expressed time and value limits by GST turnover, definitions, and procedural constraints (s4–8, Schedule 1)."},"complexity_factors":["Technical definitions of credit error, debit error and related amounts (s4)","Conditional eligibility tied to compliance activities and Commissioner discretion (s6(d))","Tiered time limits and monetary value limits for debit-error corrections based on current GST turnover (s7 table)","Exclusion of errors caused by recklessness or intentional disregard (s7(a))","Requirement to be registered for GST to use the correction mechanism (s6(g))","Prohibition on correcting earlier errors by amending a later-period assessment (s8)","Interplay with the Fuel Tax Act 2006 and other defined terms referenced to that Act (s3, s4 note)","Repeal of the 2013 Determination and replacement by this instrument (Schedule 1)"],"plain_english_summary":"Creates rules letting businesses that claim fuel tax credits correct earlier calculation mistakes by adjusting a later fuel tax return, if specific conditions are met. It defines debit/credit errors, requires GST registration, prevents corrections while the matter is under a Commissioner-led compliance activity (unless the Commissioner agrees), and forbids fixing earlier errors by amending a later-period assessment (s6–8). Debit-error corrections are limited by time and value thresholds that vary with current GST turnover (s7)."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023","history":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023/history","analysis":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/fuel-tax-correcting-fuel-tax-errors-determination-2023/documents"}}