What is excise duty?

Excise duty is a tax on certain goods produced or manufactured in Australia. These goods are called excisable goods. They include:

  • alcohol
  • fuel and petroleum
  • tobacco.

What to do if you want to deal with excisable goods

You need a licence or permission issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) before you can:

  • produce, store, deal in or manufacture excisable goods
  • move underbond excisable goods (goods that haven’t yet had excise duty paid).

You will need to lodge excise returns and pay excise duty.

In certain limited circumstances you may be able to claim a refund for excise duty you have paid.

Read next

Was this page helpful?