Getting Your Excise Tax Rebate on Auxiliary Engine Fuel
Are you getting the amount of federal tax you pay for fuel reimbursed? About 20 years ago WSA’s Executive Director, Ranger Kidwell-Ross, contacted personnel in the U.S. IRS Excise Tax Division with the argument that sweeping contractors should not have to pay taxes on the fuel used while sweeping on private property. At long last, an IRS Regional Manager, Kent Stoneking, became convinced of the validity of the argument and allowed an article with the details to be printed in
American Sweeper Magazine, where he was the editor.
The crux of it – all of which is included in detail in our TOC topic entitled ‘Fuel Tax Rebates,’ – is that you DO NOT have to pay excise tax on the fuel used by your sweeper’s auxiliary engine. As an example, in 2019 the excise tax was $.26 per gallon of diesel. The way to calculate that amount is, in short, by tracking the hourmeter on each sweeper and then multiplying the number of hours by the expected fuel usage per hour for that engine. A chart with that information for a variety of auxiliary engines is included in the links.
More good news: If you haven’t been taking your excise tax rebates – which is essentially the same process used by farmers who don’t have to pay tax on fuel used in farm equipment – you can go back a total of three years since your last tax return! You will find that if you have several sweepers the resulting rebate can be substantial.
If you read the information (we suggest printing and giving to your accountant) and still have questions about how to go about the process of applying for your rebate(s), give us a call, toll free, at 866.635.2205 or
send us an email.
If you’re not taking advantage of this key IRS decision, you’re leaving $$ on the table!
That’s it for this FAQ message. As always, if you have questions please give us a call or
send an email. Our toll-free number is 1-866-635-2205; our direct line is 360-724-7355. Remember we are located in the Pacific Time Zone.
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