Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Anybody met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and got the cleaner fuels grant?

Dear All,

I'm doing a Feasibility Study into starting a home plant (appleseed) and doing it honestly i.e. obtaining an excise license and paying the excise (38.14c/litre). The figures work out, as here in Kal (WA) we are paying $1.50 for dino diesel and the prices only get higher.

However, the goal would be to claim the cleaner fuels grant to recoup the excise costs. To do this I would need to verify the product met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000.

Q1 - Has anyone managed to get their home processed biodiesel to meet this standard?

Not to my knowledge, but at least one comercial producer is claiming the cleaner fuel grant, without any of the testing having been done.

Q2 - Is there a lab in WA that can test samples of my home biodiesel to verify conformance (or not) with the quality requirements of the act?

Contact Jonathon Thwaites (Search UWA website (WWW.UWA.EDU.AU) for him. he is trying to establish a testing facility for biofuels testing. Not running yet, but perhaps soon?

Q3 - Are there any home brewers out there that are paying excise and claiming the cleaner fuels grant?

I hope someone out there can help.

Regards,

Steve

[bruddell Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close bruddell]

Re: Cetane Engineso

SGS Darwin has imported and installed a Cetane engine for Biodiesel . It is expected to be fully commissioned by late September early
October 2006

[EcoPower Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close EcoPower]

Re: Anybody met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and got the cleaner fuels grant?

Not to my knowledge, but at least one comercial producer is claiming the cleaner fuel grant, without any of the testing having been done.

Tony, would you care to elaborate on how this producer managed to avoid the test? I’m working through a feasibility study for a small continuous reactor and testing is an area I’m yet to tackle.

[Chris Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris]

Re: Anybody met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and got the cleaner fuels grant?

Tony, would you care to elaborate on how this producer managed to avoid the test? I’m working through a feasibility study for a small continuous reactor and testing is an area I’m yet to tackle.

Hi there
Do you think that it is possible at this stage to elaborate on the conitinious reactor you are working on?
We have done a lot of work in this area in a number of different designs
I would be interested in exchanging some views on the subject if you care
If you wish to keep it out of the forum you may PM me
Cheers
Chris

[fatboy Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close fatboy]

Re: Anybody met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and got the cleaner fuels grant?

Tony, would you care to elaborate on how this producer managed to avoid the test? I’m working through a feasibility study for a small continuous reactor and testing is an area I’m yet to tackle.

Hello Eco Power,

Would that be 'Northern Mallee' as in Mildura?

I'm part of a BD user group in Mildura. I'm also researching the feasibility of setting up a community based commercial BD facility in the area. If you reckon we can help each other, please get in touch.

Fatboy.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

A users group in Mildura? That is great news. I've not heard anything about this before, so please make sure you tell us about this in here (as a new thread please - maybe in the Melbourne section).

[Chris Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

Hi Robert
I am on to them they are in Victoria

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Anybody met the Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000 and got the cleaner fuels grant?

Tony, would you care to elaborate on how this producer managed to avoid the test? I’m working through a feasibility study for a small continuous reactor and testing is an area I’m yet to tackle.

At the time I spoke with him last, he had only just been asked by ATO to provide test results confirming AS compliance.
He didn't have any test results at that stage and was looking fro someone to test his biodiesel.
I had heard from several of his customers that his fuel solidified at temperatures above 5°C. Whils thia was not specified in the AS, having a winter fuel in Perth with a MP of 5°C is not good for customer relations.

I have not heard from him in the last month. I presume he is trying to have tests performed. I hope that, for his family's sake, that the ATO do not require test results from the starting date of his production, otherwise he will need to repay the grant and may have a hefty penalty also.

[Terry Syd Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Terry Syd]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

Tony or Morris, maybe you can answer this. Morris mentioned at the picnic a group that got put out of business by the ATO demanding a heap of back taxes.

The full details of that tale might be of some interest and education to others, perhaps keep someone else from falling foul of the Government. Anybody know the particulars of what happened?

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

Terry,
I have not heard of anything along those lines (yet).
Tony

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

Possibly he was talking about the farmers co-op in Orange? I had heard that they were bankrupted by the taxman. I have no more information than this though - I've only heard rumours. If anyone can get any better info on this, please post it.

(I did some googling on this, but all I found was the story on my own website )

[Gunner Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gunner]

Re: Australian Biodiesel Tax Info

The Federal Government is extremely generous to Australian Taxpayers. We often hear how generously they give Family Tax Benefits to working families, we hear how they are funding childcare places, Medicare is paying for hospital and medical services, first homeowners' grants, the GST is wholly returned to the states, and the BAS is not difficult for small business, etc. What we don't pay attention to is the difficulty in obtaining the Family Tax Benefit and the risk of oweing the ATO back payments, or how NSW gets a shortfall of $1Billion of GST revenue, or how the GST on a home is more than the Homeowners' Grant, or how many businesses spend unpaid hours of their time collecting and calculating taxes for the Government. The Government annouces reduced personal Tax rates to much acclaim, but uses a Ministerial Order to supress a FOI request for the statistics on how much extra tax it is raking in due to "Bracket Creep"!
So when the Government announces in a "Green Initiative" that Biodiesel producers will be exempt from paying the Fuel Excise because of a grant available to offset it, don't believe it until you see the cheque. Because of the difficulties of jumping through the hoops to claim the grant, BD producers are at a disadvantage, and the existance of "Excise Free" BD is a furphy.

When one of the larger producers of BD in Aust cannot claim the rebate, there's something suss about the Govt's good faith in their rebate scheme.