Simplifying Fuel Tax Credits for Australian Businesses

What are Fuel Tax Credits?

Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) provide credit to Australian companies for taxes paid on fuel when used in machinery, plant, equipment, heavy and light vehicles. The claim amount depends on various factors, such as type of fuel, when it is obtained, and on what activities it is being used.

Telematics Data for Fuel Tax Credits

To determine FTC and support claim amounts, businesses are required to maintain complete and accurate records of the fuel used to perform business operations. 

A range of Digital Matter devices makes it simple to streamline fuel tax credit claims with the ATO, by supplying telematics data. Telematics reports provide full transparency and audibility while minimizing paperwork and guesswork and saving valuable time and resources on accounting and bookkeeping fees.

If you can’t support tax claims with records, businesses may have to repay all or part of the fuel tax credits received by the ATO and may also incur penalties and other interest charges.

On-road vs. Off-road Rebates

Businesses can claim FTC for eligible fuels used both on and off public roads, including private roads, work sites (construction sites, mines, etc), and agricultural properties.

While many businesses already regularly claim FTC, many are only claiming the standard on-road rates (16.0 per liter), as calculating public vs private usage is difficult. Off public road rebate rates are higher (41.8 per liter), but advanced mapping software such as PRISM is usually required to accurately differentiate between road-types.

The potential savings for businesses are staggering – a fleet of 50 heavy vehicles operating 4-5 hours per day on private roads can save over an estimated *500k per annum at 0.48 per liter. FTC savings of this amount more than justify the cost of implementing tracking devices.

*Be sure to check ATO rates or use their Fuel Tax Credit Calculator.

Benefits to Digital Matter Channel Partners

• Diversify your product portfolio by offering FTC Reporting.
• FTC savings for businesses can justify the cost of implementing tracking devices.
• Additional Revenue Stream for your business – We see tracking companies charging anywhere between $5 – $25 per month, per device, for FTC reporting services.
• Can use FTC in promotional and marketing materials with Risk-Free Trial.
• Currently, the ATO also allows companies to back-claim up to 4 years based on their current usage at similar rates, providing they can show consistent patterns of fuel usage.

Recommended Devices for Fleet Management & Fuel Tax Credits

Our GPS tracking devices for fleet management include Plug and Play OBD devices, powered devices, and battery-powered devices.

Powered

• Bolt OBD – Affordable Plug + Play GPS
• Dart2 – Hardwired GPS with customizable Inputs + Outputs for Driver ID, Remote Immobilization
• G62 – Hardwired waterproof and dust-resistant GPS with customizable Inputs + Outputs for Driver ID, Remote Immobilization
• G120 – Hardwired or battery-powered GPS with customizable Inputs + Outputs for Driver ID, Remote Immobilization, Bluetooth 5.0 Gateway (learn more about tracking with Bluetooth), and optional Iridium Edge for tracking in remote environments

Battery-powered

• Oyster2 – Waterproof and dust-resistant battery-powered GPS tracker with up to seven-years of battery life at once-daily updates / one-year battery life at once hourly updates.
  Remora2 – Waterproof and dust-resistant battery-powered GPS tracker with up to ten years of battery life at once-daily updates / five-year battery life at once hourly updates + Bluetooth 5.0 Gateway (learn more about tracking with Bluetooth).

Unlock the Commercial Value of your Telematics Data with Prism

Digital Matter has partnered with PRISM, market leaders in precision GPS analysis to simplify and automate ATO Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) reporting for Digital Matter device distributors and users.

Prism’s advanced, user-friendly platform ensures businesses can extract maximum value from telematics data.

About Prism – Automated, Precision GPS Analysis

By combining a powerful purpose-built analysis engine and easy-to-use web tools, PRISM allows fleet operators to extract more value from their telematics data to:

• Improve cash flow with automated and precise FTC analysis.
• ​Maximize claim values with on public road vs off public road fuel use reporting.
• Save time and money on claims processing and admin.
• Understand what really drives the cost to optimize operating logistics.

Saving Businesses Money

“MSS Security has been a customer of Digital Matters for over 3-years with our fleet of over 100 operational vehicles tracked nationally for location monitoring and driver safety. With a high percentage of our vehicles in regional and remote locations such as mines, education facilities, and defense bases Digital Matter vehicle tracking and monitoring is a critical part of our service delivery capability. The ability to now utilize this data to accurately and efficiently calculate Fuel Tax Credits is yet another valuable component of Digital Matter’s offering to MSS Security.”

– Kevin McDonald, General Manager, Business Improvement

For more information on the future of FTC reporting in the world of EVs check out this great post by Co-founder & CEO of Nuonic Sebastian Jezierski – How much do you pay to use the roads?