This instrument is the Fuel Tax (Correcting Fuel Tax Errors) Determination 2023.
2 Commencement
(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.
Commencement information
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3
Provisions Commencement Date/Details
The whole of this instrument The day after this instrument is registered.
Note: This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made.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.
(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.
3 Authority
This instrument is made under subsection 60-10(1) of the Act.
4 Definitions
Note: A number of expressions used in this instrument are defined in section 110-5 of the Act, including the following:
(a) assessed net fuel amount;
(b) assessment;
(c) fuel tax law;
(d) GST group;
(e) net fuel amount;
(f) period of review;
(g) tax period.
In this instrument:
Act means the Fuel Tax Act 2006.
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Taxation.
compliance 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:
(a) gives a notice of assessment or amended assessment in relation to the tax period under examination; or
(b) advises you that the examination has been finalised.
Note: 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.
credit 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:
(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
(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.
credit 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.
debit 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.
debit 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.
error means a credit error or debit error.
fuel tax return has the same meaning as in section 995-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
net 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.
5 Schedules
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.
6 When an error may be corrected
In working out your net fuel amount for a tax period, you may correct an error you made in an earlier tax period if:
(a) the error relates to an amount of fuel tax credit or any adjustments under the Act;
(b) the earlier tax period started on or after 1 July 2012;
(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;
(d) at the time of lodging your fuel tax return for the tax period:
(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
(ii) if paragraph (i) does not apply, the Commissioner has notified you in writing that the error can be corrected under this instrument;
(e) you have not corrected that error, to any extent, in working out your net fuel amount for another tax period;
(f) where the error is a debit error, the conditions in section 7 are met; and
(g) you are registered for GST.
7 Conditions for correcting a debit error
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:
(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;
(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
(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.
Current GST turnover
Debit error time limit
Debit error value limit
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
$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
$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
$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
$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
Note: 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.
8 Error cannot be corrected by amending an assessment for a later tax period
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.