Claim your remission

The easiest way to claim your excise remission is by using online services.

Making a claim online means you can:

• quickly and easily lodge without downloading a PDF form
• only see questions that are relevant to your claim
• select tariff items from a drop-down list
• have your excise duty amounts automatically calculated
• view your lodged claims and transaction history
• receive your destruction approval faster.

How to access the online form

To access the form using online services:

• select Lodgments, then Excise claims
• select Excise remission then Add
• complete all mandatory fields and review the information
• tick the Declaration box and select Submit.

For help when completing the online form, you can:

• hover over or click the (?) icon for quick tips or smart help
• click on the (?) Help button on the right side of the screen for all Help topics.

If you need assistance to lodge online contact us.

How to access your destruction approval

To access your destruction approval in online services:

Online services for business

• select Communication
• select Secure mail
• navigate to the relevant mailbox
• click on the Destruction approval link.

To receive an email notification that your destruction approval has been issued, add an email address in the Notifications field at the bottom of the secure mail inbox.

Email notifications will always be from our trusted email address: Taxofficeportalmessagenotify@ato.gov.au. 

You can also access your destruction approval from Communication history:

• select Communication
• select History.

Online services for agents

• Agent homepage
• select Communication
• select Communication history
• select Search.

If you are unable to lodge your excise remission using online services, you can use the PDF application form.

The PDF application form

If you are unable to lodge your excise remission using online services, you can use the PDF application form.

The Excise remission PDF form is designed to be completed on a desktop or laptop computer (not on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet). You'll need to use Adobe ReaderExternal Link software to view the form.

Because this is an electronic form, you can type your answers straight into the boxes provided.

Some questions will only be displayed if we need you to answer them. If you want to see all the questions before filling in the form, use the Print form with all questions button to print a copy.

How to get the PDF form

Double-clicking the form won't open it. The form will not load on a mobile device, tablet or within a browser.

To complete the form, you must save it to your desktop computer or laptop (with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat installed) by following these steps.

• To download, right click on Excise remission (NAT 4289, PDF, 1.41MB)This link will download a file.
• Select Save target as (or a similar option depending on your internet browser) to save it to your computer.
• To open your saved form, right click on the PDF file in the folder it was saved in, select Open with then select Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.
• Enable Protected View and JavaScript if prompted before filling in the form. If they are not enabled, additional questions will not be displayed and the application will be incomplete.
• Once it's complete, save it using the Save form button at the end of the form.

Note: Update your default app for PDF file types to Adobe Acrobat Reader DC to open all PDF files with Adobe Acrobat.

Help completing the PDF form

Follow these instructions to help you complete the Excise remission PDF form:

• Applicant details
• Contact details
• Product details
• Tariff item and duty rate
• Quantity in dutiable units
• Quantity for blended fuels including biofuel blends
• Remission value
• Claim code
• Describe the reason for destruction
• Destruction method
• Remission summary
• Premises details
• Destruction of goods
• Declaration.

Applicant details

Provide the legal name of the person or business applying for the remission. Do not provide a business name if it's different to the legal name. A business name is a name registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

It's not compulsory to provide your Australian business number (ABN), however it will help us process your application promptly.

If you operate your business as a trust, enter the ABN of the trustee in its capacity as trustee for the trust.

Your client account number is linked to your ABN and is used to identify your excise account with us.

Contact details

Provide the name, position held and contact details of the person we can contact for more information about this application only.

Product details

You can enter different types of excisable goods on the one remission application. For example, beer, spirits and fuel can be entered on the same application. Complete the product details for each tariff item that you are claiming a remission.

Tariff item and duty rate

Excisable goods are classified to a tariff item or subitem in The Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act 1921 (the Schedule). Each tariff item and subitem has a number allocated to it. You need to complete a separate line for each one.

Each tariff item listed in the Schedule has a rate of excise duty.

You need to provide the relevant rate of excise duty for your goods on the date the remission circumstance occurred.

The excise duty rate for beer is determined by the strength of the product and the size and type of the container.

For blended fuels the rate of duty is the amount of duty worked out under section 6G of the Excise Tariff Act 1921.

If you don't know which tariff item number or duty rate applies, refer to the Excise duty rates for alcohol or Excise duty rates for fuel and petroleum products.

Quantity in dutiable units

The quantity in dutiable units is the amount or volume of product that you are claiming a remission for. This is known as the dutiable quantity.

This field also includes the measurement unit you are using to report the volume (or mass). Most tariff items listed in the Schedule have a measurement unit specified for types of goods. This is known as a dutiable unit.

The following are examples of dutiable units:

• litres of alcohol
• kilograms of compressed natural gas
• litres of fuel (other than blended fuels).

As excise duty is not payable on the first 1.15% of alcohol content in beer, use the following formula to calculate the dutiable quantity of beer products:

Total litres of beer x (Alcohol strength − 1.15%) = dutiable quantity

The alcohol strength for all alcoholic beverages is calculated on the labelled strength or actual strength of the product, whichever is higher.

Reporting dutiable quantity for:

• alcohol – truncate to one decimal place
• fuels – to the nearest litre or kilogram
• crude and condensate – round kilolitres to one decimal place.

Provide the quantity in dutiable units and select the unit type.

Quantity for blended fuels including biofuel blends

Blended fuels are products listed under tariff item numbers 10.7, 10.12 and 10.30.

The dutiable quantity for blended fuels is the total quantity of the blend regardless of whether duty has been paid, in:

• litres for tariff items 10.7 and 10.12
• litres/kilogram for tariff item 10.30.

Remission value

This is the amount of excise duty you are claiming for a remission. The form will automatically calculate the remission value based on the quantity of dutiable units and the rate of excise duty.

Claim code

Select the code that describes the reason for your remission claim. The valid claim codes are as shown in the following table.

Claim code	Description
DIPS	Used when goods are for the official use by diplomatic missions and consular posts and personal use of certain people working for those organisations
NOTW	Used when goods which remain subject to our control have not been duty paid and are not worth the amount of excise duty payable.
OTHR	Used when a specific remission circumstance is not defined.
UNFT	Used when goods which remain subject to our control have not been duty paid and have: deteriorated or been damaged, pillaged, lost or destroyed become unfit for human consumption

Describe the reason for destruction

Provide the reason why the goods need to be destroyed. Attach copies of any documentation that support your remission claim.

Destruction method

Provide details of the method that will be used to destroy the goods.

We may require the destruction of goods to be supervised and we will notify you if this is the case.

Remission summary

The total remission summary is the total remission value of all goods entered at Product details.

You may be required to provide additional information and documents to support your claim.

Premises details

Provide the establishment ID, name and street address of the establishment where the goods are currently stored.

Destruction of goods

Provide details of when and where the destruction will occur.

Select Yes if the goods will be destroyed at the premises where the goods are currently stored and provide the period when you intend to destroy the goods.

Select No if the goods will be destroyed at a destruction facility and provide details of the destruction facility, including the:

• establishment ID if the facility holds an excise licence
• name of the facility
• site address of the facility.

Provide the period when you intend to move the goods for destruction to the destruction facility.

You may need to supply evidence that the destruction facility will accept the goods for destruction.

Declaration

You, or a person who is authorised to act on your behalf (an authorised contact), must complete the declaration. If the applicant is a business entity, the declaration can only be completed by a primary contact or an authorised contact.

If you lodge this application through Online services for business, your electronic credential will be accepted as your electronic signature.