Contact us about excise equivalent goods

Who to contact

If you deal in excise equivalent goods (EEGs) and other customable goods (goods subject to customs duty) you may need to contact both the:

ATO (us)
Department of Home Affairs, including their operational arm the Australian Border Force.

We refer to customable goods that are not EEGs, as 'non-EEGs'.

Which agency to contact for EEGs and non-EEGs matters
Type of interaction	General warehouse operator (Stores EEGs, may also store non-EEGs)	Private warehouse operator (Imports and stores own EEGs (possibly also non-EEGs))	Importer or owner (Imports EEGs (possibly also non-EEGs) and stores them in a general warehouse)
Licensing – apply, amend, renew, general advice	ATO	ATO	N/A
Lodging import and warehouse declarations - Nature 20 and Nature 30	N/A	Home Affairs (using the Integrated Cargo System (ICS))	Home Affairs (using ICS)
EEG permissions – general advice, apply, amend or cancel: periodic settlement single movement continuing movement general movement	N/A	ATO	ATO
Non-EEG permission applications, issues (where you also deal in EEGs) single movement continuing movement	ATO	ATO	ATO
Non-EEG permission applications, issues (where you only deal in non-EEGs) single movement continuing movement	Home Affairs	Home Affairs	Home Affairs
Paying – Customs duty or indirect taxes if applicable	N/A	Home Affairs	Home Affairs
Advice on: tariffs non-precedential and administrative matters technical matters imported goods origin status of imports ICS support refund and drawback situations	Home Affairs	Home Affairs	Home Affairs
Claiming refunds and drawbacks of customs duty	N/A	Home Affairs	Home Affairs
Seeking remissions of customs duty	ATO	ATO	ATO
Compliance – post transaction verification for stored goods	ATO	ATO	ATO
All imported tobacco product queries and permissions	Home Affairs	Home Affairs	Home Affairs

Duty free, provedore or catering bond industry

If you're in the duty free, provedore or catering bond industries and want to apply for a customs licence or to move goods from your warehouse, you must apply to the Department of Home Affairs.

If your supplier is moving goods from a warehouse licensed by:

us, they'll apply to us for a movement permission
the Department of Home Affairs, they'll apply to Home Affairs.

If you're a duty free store, catering bond or provedore dealing in excisable goods, customable goods and EEGs, contact:

us for your excisable goods
the Department of Home Affairs for your EEGs and customable goods.

Authorised contacts and broker details

We can only discuss your EEGs and non-EEGs matters with an authorised contact. Contact us if you wish to nominate a licensed customs broker as an authorised contact to deal directly with us on your behalf.

Your broker must contact the Department of Home Affairs directly for enquiries about:

broker licensing
tariff classifications and duty rates
import/export transactions
passenger concessions
tariff, valuation and origin advice
export advice
system advice for Integrated Cargo System (ICS) and Tariff and Precedents Information Network (TAPIN).

How to contact us

You can use our dedicated channels to contact us if you:

manufacture, produce or store excisable goods (alcohol or fuel and petroleum goods) in Australia
deal in imported EEGs.

You can:

email us at
- Alcohol@ato.gov.au
- Petroleum@ato.gov.au (for all fuel-related matters)
- Tobacco@ato.gov.au
phone us on 1300 137 290 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday
write to us at

Australian Taxation Office
PO Box 3514
ALBURY NSW 2640

We have consultative forums for representatives of the alcohol and petroleum industries:

For more information on excise topics, see:

How to contact the Department of Home Affairs

You can:

phone 13 18 81 in Australia, between 9am and 5pm AEST, Monday to Friday (excluding national public holidays)
visit their website at home affairs.gov.auOpens in a new window.

Confidential reporting of tax evasion

If you think someone may be engaging in tax evasion activities, we encourage you to report it to us using our tip-off form. The tip-off form is also available in the contact us section of the ATO app.

The reporting process is confidential and helps us support the Australian community and retain fairness in the taxation system.