Fuel Tax Credits (FTC) are an important factor in the cashflow and margins of many fleet operators, but they can be complex to calculate and keeping audit-ready records is an admin burden. Nuonic's Fuel Accounting platform makes FTC reporting easy to set up, repeat and maintain to the expected governance standards.

A quick overview of the scheme and the practicalities for claimants

FTC is the mechanism by which the Australian government allows commercial fuel consumers to claim a credit (essentially the excise paid) on fuel purchases for certain eligible uses. The principle purpose of this scheme was initially to avoid charging the Road User Charge (RUC), a component of fuel excise, on fuel that was purchased for uses other than driving on public roads, though the connection between road funding and fuel excise isn't direct and there are eligible fuels in the FTC scheme that do not power vehicles at all (such as LNG).

The credit amount claimable generally depends on the fuel type, fuel use and data of purchase. In addition there are more complex criteria for certain uses. In particular, the differentiation between liquid fuel used for travel on a public road in vehicles and fuel used off a public road. The latter is claimable at approximately 2 1/2 times the rate of the former, so it is often worth investing some effort in this calculation for fleet operators.

Aside from the calculations, there is the requirement to maintain evidence of fuel purchases and use that is sufficient to justify claims made to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) in the event of audit. This places additional administrative burden on the claimant as audits often occur some time after the claims are made and the auditors may ask for information that was not originally captured or anticipated to be needed, adding stress to the claimant as they scramble to respond. Even preparing a response can itself consume considerable time which takes staff time away from other business operations and needs.

FTCs are claimed through the Business Activity Statement (BAS) so the calculation and record keeping process must align with the business's broader reporting and accounting schedule.

How Nuonic helps with FTC

Our platform helps customers to streamline their FTC calculation and administration process in three ways:

• Easy workflow for claim configuration: Our workflow lets you set up the components your are claiming FTC for in an easy to follow way that aligns with the ATO's calculation worksheets, but with the ability to use your fuel records to populate the report with accurate number for any BAS period, automatic rate application based on purchase date and all relevant options for how to apportion different uses (including Safe Harbour rates). This means you can set up your complete claim in one place, and then generate new claims easily for the next period using the latest fuel records.

• Automated record-keeping: All FTC reports made from fuel records in the platform are automatically linked to the original source documents. This means that if you are audited at a later time, you can easily download all the relevant purchase records in one go to respond. In each report you can also record notes about each item you claim for, so you'll never forget how you arrived at a number or what was or wasn't included.

• Precise apportionment using GPS: If you GPS tracking on your fleet, you can use our advanced geospatial calculation engine to automate the apportionment of fuel between on and off public roads, and auxiliary equipment (if applicable). This often leads to increased claims by identifying more off-road usage but also increases confidence through full visibility of the locations where the activity occurred. We integrate with many leading GPS tracking providers, with connection and ongoing use being seamless for many.

What this means for you

Using Nuonic's FTC workflow you can reduce the time required to prepare claims while ensuring all your reports, evidence and history is in one place that is easily accessible when you need it.

With our GPS-based apportionment, you can ensure you're capturing your full fleet entitlement by analysing every single position record for each vehicle in detail. Or rather, we do that part so you can just review the results to make sure you're comfortable with them, before you claim!