Are you a) already listed on the Liable Entity Public Information Database? or b) are a large fuel user where the embodied CO2-e emissions of the fuel you use is at least 25,000 tonnes?
Then you may wish to take advantage of the Opt-In Scheme which allows you to meet the carbon liability associated with your fuel use through the Carbon Price Mechanism (CPM).
At present, fuel users pay an effective carbon price through the fuel tax or excise schemes under the Australian Tax Office. However, the Clean Energy Act 2001 has provisions for the users of specified taxable liquid fuels to manage their carbon liability by opting into the CPM.
Under the Opt-In Scheme, a Designated Opt-In Person may choose to manage the taxable fuel liabilities of a GST group, a GST joint venture or for a particular entity. The opportunity to opt in to the CPM is available for the first time in the 2013-14 financial year.
However, if you opt-in to manage your carbon price liability, rather than have the government deduct the carbon price from your fuel tax rebate, you can elect to receive the fuel rebate in full (without deduction of the carbon price), and instead surrender to the regulator carbon units equivalent to the emissions likely to occur from the use of your fuel.
This will be advantageous to you if you:
(a) Have access to free carbon units (some trade-exposed businesses receive some free carbon units as compensation for the introduction of the scheme);
(b) Have access to or are able to purchase carbon offsets under the Carbon Farming Initiative;
(c) Can buy Australian carbon units on the open market more cheaply than the Australian Government's price; and/or
(d) Can buy eligible international emissions units more cheaply and surrender these rather than have the Australian Government's carbon unit price deducted.
Be aware options (c) and (d) are only available once the scheme moves into the flexible price phase from July 2015.
Forms are available now on the Clean Energy Regulator website and in order to take up this opportunity for the next financial year the Regulator must declare the Designated Opt-In Person on or before 2 April 2013.
