Fuel Response Payment Plan – our approach to assessing if you qualify
Fuel Response Payment Plan – our approach to assessing if you qualify Fuel Response Payment Plan is not a grant – it’s a fuel-related ATO payment arrangement for the taxes…
The fuel response payment plan has closed. Applications ran from 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026 and it is no longer available. The post is kept because the way we assess these cases has not changed – see "What to do now that it has closed" at the end for the options that remain, including a change to interest deductibility that makes deferring a tax debt more expensive than it used to be.
Fuel Response Payment Plan – our approach to assessing if you qualify
Fuel Response Payment Plan is not a grant – it’s a fuel-related ATO payment arrangement for the taxes you owe, but in some cases, deferring the payment is a significant help itself. To get it, you had to show that your costs were significantly dependent on fuel costs.
Start with the cause – not the debt
Our recommendation is to start with what created the tax position. The test is:
Would your business be able to meet its tax obligations if fuel costs hadn’t increased?
In practice, ATO looks for a clear link between fuel or transport-related cost increases and the business’s ability to pay.
It’s usually granted for 36 months. If you will have difficulties paying, we recommend you are upfront with the ATO, and call them before you default on any payments.
What to do now that it has closed
An ordinary ATO payment plan is still available, through ATO online services for business or through your tax agent, and the same reasoning applies: start with what created the tax position, be upfront before you default rather than after, and get your lodgments up to date first, since the ATO is far less accommodating with a business that has not lodged.
One thing has changed that makes deferring more expensive than it used to be. General interest charge and shortfall interest charge incurred on or after 1 July 2025 are no longer deductible, and there is no grandfathering for older debts. Interest on a commercial loan used to pay the ATO generally still is. That reverses the arithmetic a lot of businesses were relying on when they chose to owe the ATO rather than a bank, and it is worth running the numbers rather than assuming. For the September 2026 quarter the general interest charge is 11.43% a year, compounding daily – and now paid out of after-tax money.
If you would like to work through it with someone, we can help with the assessment and the next steps.
📞 (02) 9386 0500