HCOBIG4200 - Structure of the Industry: Biofuels simplification

The Biofuels and Other Fuel Substitutes (Payment of Excise Duties etc) (Amendment)Regulations 2007 (BoFSAR) were introduced on 30th of June 2007 amending the Biofuels and Other Fuel Substitutes (Payment of Excise Duties etc) Regulations 2004 (BoFSR), in order to make provision for (or ‘allow for’) the simplification of the biofuels regime.

Under the simplification:-

  • small producers have been exempted from the requirement to register, to submit returns, and to pay excise duty on the biofuel that they produce, provided this is less than 2,500 litres per annum.
  • exempt producers are required to keep records of their production and retain them for six years. They have to make entry/register their production premises, when their production exceeds or is expected to exceed 2,500 litres in any 12 month period, and to pay duty on all the biofuel they produce from the date of registration.
  • most producers remaining on the register will submit their returns quarterly instead of monthly. This applies to producers of 2,500 litres or more, but less than450,000 litres per annum
  • a small number of the larger producers who produce 450,000 or more litres per annum will remain on monthly returns.

Provision has also been made under BoFSAR Regulation 4, requiring the registration of production premises used by several producers (multiple producers) and also requiring registration by producers of all their production premises (multiple premises) in order to account for those producers who share premises or equipment.

If producers share premises or equipment with other producers, they will now be treated as a group. A group can only be exempt if its members’ total production was less than 2,500 litres in the last 12 months, or is expected to be less than 2,500 litres in the next 12 months. Otherwise the group has to register all their premises and to pay duty on all the biofuel that they produce collectively. These measures are in place to prevent co-operatives, collectives and partnerships from splitting up their businesses to claim that they are individually below the registration limit.

For further information on the Biofuels and Other Fuel Substitutes (Payment of ExciseDuties etc) (Amendment) Regulations see HCOBIG2400

For further information on ‘Biofuels Simplification’ see Notice 179E