A new ruling released today by the Australian Tax Office clarifies the tax rebates available to off-road forestry activities.
The ruling has corrected an anomaly that meant forest industries paid substantial taxes on their fuel use whenever the public were allowed to use forestry roads.

The most significant improvement in the tax ruling – PGBR 2005/1 – is the new definition of a “private road”. The tax office has deemed that the full off-road diesel fuel grant can be claimed for the transport of logs along roads that have been “built and maintained by the industry.”
“If roads have been built by the timber industry for the primary purpose of extracting timber, these roads will now be correctly recognised as forestry roads,” said NAFI Chief Executive Officer Catherine Murphy.
“The new ruling means that forestry companies will be eligible to claim the full off-road grant for diesel used in transporting timber along forestry roads.”
“Until now, whenever the timber industry encouraged people to come into the forests by building picnic areas, lookouts or boardwalks, the forestry roads had been unfairly treated as public roads.”
“This new ruling means that the industry can continue to encourage the community to visit the forests for recreation or other business activities like bee-keeping and tourism, without being taxed unfairly as a result,” she said.
The ruling is effective for diesel purchased and used for all off-road forestry activities since 1 July 2003.
Mrs Murphy said that the ATO, NAFI and state forestry associations will jointly undertake an information tour in April to help people understand the requirements and benefits of the new ruling.
For more information: Phil Townsend - 0414 660 303.