Some excise refund scheme clarifications from the Australian Taxation Office

Hello all

After last week’s email regarding the excise changes we had a few questions from members of the industry regarding some of the details of how the scheme will work.

We were able to get the answers to these from our contact at the Australian Taxation Office and as others are sure to have been asking the same questions we thought it’s best to share them with a wider audience.

Question: How often can we apply for the refund?
Answer: The Excise Refund form can be lodged at any time after the Excise Return is lodged e.g. refunds could be done on a weekly basis if you lodge returns weekly. There is no restriction on when (or how frequently) a refund claim may be made. However claims will be limited, on an annual basis, to the $30,000 limit.

Question: Could a brewer claim back the entire $30 000 once they have paid that amount in excise or are they limited to claiming up to 60% of all excise paid till that date?
Answer: The entitlement is 60% of excise actually paid at that date, up to the $30 000 annual limit.

Question: Has the Refund Code that is used on the form changed?
Answer: As the refund form hasn’t been changed continue to use the code used for the predecessor (microbrewery) refund. That is “MICO”.

Question: Does the excise refund apply to brew on premise (BOPS) operations that also pay excise?
Answer: BOPS do not qualify for the new refund. The legislation requires that an eligible brewery sell beer. BOPS charge for the use of their facilities. If they were actually making the beer themselves and selling it to customers they’d need a (different) manufacturer licence to make beer and would pay duty at the higher rates.

We hope this information helps. If there are any other points of the scheme that you would like clarified please let us know and we’ll get you an answer. Enquiries can be sent toinfo@craftbeer.org.au.

Cheers

Brad, Chuck, Dave, Jayne, Jeremy, Matt and Owen

www.craftbeer.org.au