60/40 fuel rule

[northeast1]

So what you lot think of the 60% 40% fuel rule that seems to be floating around the private boat owners conversations at the moment.

It sounds great(well as good as it gets) "use" 40% of your fuel on something other than your engine and claim the tax back on it, reducing the cost of fuel.

But how they going to police this when 1000s of private boats all stick in claim forms for 40% of the fuel they use, not sure about anyone else but in the month of August i used £210 of fuel at 83p a ltr.

My questions are....how do you go about claiming this back if you "do" have a heater that runs on diesil etc

Can the person seeing you the fuel request to info before signing the fuel slip (if one)

I recieved a letter from the Royal Quays requesting me to sign and fill in the information regarding this 40% 60% to say if i do use fuel for other reasons and send it back. I have not yet sent it back as need to brush up on a few things first.

Anyone wish to put abit more light on this before i end up havign to do it the hard way and read the pages of babble on the fuel law from the ent

 

[mark]

complicated.

I suspect the RQ will want to trouser the whole lot and leave it to the user to claim it back, but they don't have to, they can sell it at rebated rate and leave it to you to declare it

the only mandatory bit as I can see it is that they have to obtain and retain a legal declaration from you about what you will do with your diesel. If you don't make a declaration it is illegal to use any red diesel - dutied or otherwise in a boat

the 60/40 split is only a suggested figure. You could turn up and say that 90% is for domestic use and only 10% is for propulsion. the only way to get it all rebated is if you can prove its a houseboat - ie have a council tax bill

so each time you fill up, you sign something that says

'I declare that xx% of the fuel purchased will be used for propelling a private pleasure craft'

or

you make the declaration annually and the supplier holds that in his records, which is what I guess the RQ want to do, but you could just do it each time you fill up and declare a different amount, just to pish them off!

there is a purchasing loophole of sorts, which we'll be using... mainly cos we didn't get chance to fill up before 1st nov!

currently we're looking at 49p a litre,

 

[Norman]

Rich,

Fill it in and send it off ......... honest

Then at the pump you will pay the 60/40 price. No Need to claim back you dont pay in the first place "as long as you`ve declared it" .....

The 60/40 is an average of what the gov think the private market will swallow .... IMHO. so deisel will now be approx 87p/ltr at RQ (at the 60/40 declared rate)

If you declare this (and almost all will) then there`s no need to keep any receipts or proof of use as this is thought to be "the average"
If you declare a higher than 40 domestic then you are open to "proving" your use at any time the gov think fit.

There`s nothing to stop you buying at zero rated from a garage or depot and declaring it is all for heating then putting it in boat (except you cannot for safety reasons decant (fill) in the marina you must do it in open water ......

I would expect this is merely the thin end of the wedge and progressivly over the next two or three years the 60/40 may become 70/30 or even 90/10 .............. until they find a way to mark domestic red and propultion red differently (maybe red stripes for our craft! ) we`ll see.

 

[mark]

I reckon, maybe the reason they stumped for 60/40 was as a sweetener, if they had stuck to the EU directive as proscribed, there'd be no 60/40, but they would have had to reduce the overall duty in line with europe, so the 60/40 sorta evens it out without making the rest of the red users in the world realises they are still paying over the odds compared with europe if that makes sense

 

[Norman]

aye mark, its a "create least waves possible" move .......

 

[mark]

hackshuely...

been talking to our oil man. they are a wholesaler - heating oils, red etc


currently 43p pre litre plus 5% VAT

they are more than happy to supply us and gave us 2 options - from the tanker (if we want more than 250 litres at a go (we will) - pull up on the quayside and bish bash bosh

or... drums, 215 litre, small deposit on the drum

if it were option 1... can't see why one or 2 extra boats can't partake of the service

food for thought for next year though, at the very least we'll be buying a good few drums just to fill her up, new tanks going in more than likely, which may increase her capacity even more, in which case a fill up early doors should last all year

 

[northeast1]

Its a good idea Mark...mind i have a main tank for 17 gallon and a back up of 5 gallon so would need to be amny other boats lol.

Yer i took the 60/40 as a way of not pushing all the cost on us in one go.

I will fill the paper work in and send it back, will have to find new ways of increasing the 5miles per gallon my boat uses, maybe train some dolphins to push the boat to the river mouth then tow iz back in :0)

 

[davem2005]

This hike in taxes was categorically denied by defra (IE the gov) back on nov 11th 2007 when the question was asked...the official comment is that is was something brought in to bring us into line with eu laws and totally out of there control.

Of course they aint going to complain about something that earns them a few extra quid.

We cant overturn it ...just live with it.

Having had a few dealings with the hmrc over the last few years could i suggest you take this to pm's rather than post it. Its certainly the best way to do an annual declaration at 60/40...unless of course you want to mess the supplier around.

On a totaly different subject ..one of my paint suppliers has to pay to get rid of those 1000 litre plastic liquid containers...there clean (washable with water ) and available for collection free in bolton. They are the size of a euro pallet and would fit in a back garden.

Another thing that springs to mind is that machine mart sell a hand fuel transfer pump to suit a 205 litre barrel for a very reasonable price. Apparently they are selling like hot cakes to hoodies who think they fit a peugeot hatchback.

Back on the subject of fuel taxes...you should all have to pay the same price as I do for unleaded if you want my opinion

 

[northeast1]

Well Dave if you wnat some help with the fuel costs up Oban you know where to look