Are you eligible for fuel crisis relief?
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has a fuel response payment plan for taxpayers affected by high fuel prices. If you think you could be eligible for relief under this plan, are not aware of eligibility criteria and how to apply for relief, read on.
Streamlined access to more flexible payment plan arrangements, now have government approval.
This flexibility includes longer payment terms, no up-front payment, and access to general interest charge (GIC) remission where payment and lodgement conditions are met.
The ATO will also now remit GIC and other penalties and allow PAYG instalments to be varied where there have been reductions in taxable income because of fuel shortages and high prices.
How this will work
Eligible taxpayers will be able to access the ATO fuel response payment system with no upfront payment. They will be offered a three-year plan to make equal monthly payments and get GIC remission.
The system allows the ATO to decide whether to remit any general interest charges that have accrued from the time of a taxpayer’s application to the date of the third monthly instalment, provided all instalments agreed to under the payment plan for three months are paid, and any outstanding lodgements are brought up to date for that period.
You can apply to the ATO until 30 June this year and you won’t have to make a further application for GIC remission between now and then.
The ATO will continue to assess circumstances and available support options in the 2026-27 financial year.
If you’ re a taxpayer, an ABN holder, and meet the following four criteria, you’re eligible to apply for an ATO fuel response payment plan.
You must:
- Have experienced an increase in business operating costs that are either directly attributable to higher fuel costs, or indirectly attributable to increased charges by way of transport logistics and other supply chain costs involved in operating your business.
- Have a new tax debt or be unable to service and existing tax debt.
- Be able to demonstrate reduced capacity to make payments to the ATO because of higher fuel prices. (The ATO will need to be convinced you’re not applying merely to resolve issues arising from previously existing cash flow problems or a general downturn in business.)
- Furthermore, be able to convince the ATO that you could meet your tax obligations, including payments to be made under any existing payment plan, were it not for higher fuel prices.
The ATO reserves the right to cancel any fuel response payment plan it makes with you if your tax lodgements during the period of the plan aren’t up to date, and these must be up to date for remission of GIC under a fuel response payment plan.
Applying for a payment plan
If, having considered your eligibility to apply for a plan by reading the requirements bullet-pointed above, you decide you’re currently ineligible to make an application yet still want to make one, then as a priority you should:
- Be paying employees their entitlements in wages and superannuation guarantee.
- Pay creditors so they can pay their employees their full entitlements.
- Ensure you keep up to date with lodgements. If you’re expecting a refund and have yet to make a lodgement, do so immediately.
- If you owe money, pay as much of the debt as you can and set up a payment plan for the remainder by way of online services.
- Contact your registered tax or BAS agent to discuss available options.
Commissioner of Taxation Rob Heferen says the ATO recognises that the “fuel situation” may be severely affecting some businesses by disrupting supplies and other facets of their operations, thus creating uncertainty and financial pressures.
He says: “If high fuel costs are affecting your business’s ability to meet tax payment obligations, and you are having difficulty getting working capital financing from your bank or normal source of credit, please let us know so we can support you during this period.”
Advice from the ATO
In a recently issued statement the ATO advises taxpayers that while it can’t waive debts because of circumstances relative to fuel problems and prices, it’s important, irrespective of how and when that situation is improved, they reduce as much existing debt as possible.
The ATO says it’s willing to aid that process by establishing a payment plan and suggests business owners confer with registered tax professionals for advice on the best options available for debt elimination or at least reduction.
According to the statement, registered tax and BAS agents have vital roles to play in showing clients how a payment plan can possibly save a business by enabling the ATO to understand precisely the business’s tax situation.
If agents believe clients are eligible for an ATO fuel response payment plan, they can apply for one on their behalf, provided they have written authority to do so.
Tax professionals are also urged to consider advice they can offer clients about the ATO’s previously existing support options relative to debt payment plans, lodgement and payment deferrals, as well as penalty and interest remission.
For only in this way is it possible, according to the ATO, for it to confer effectively with business owners to set up workable payment plans that can be vital to personal or company financial survival --- whether financial difficulty has arisen because of the fuel crisis, or results from long standing indebtedness to the ATO.
