Farmers Miss Out on Fuel Excise Refunds, Says Farm Focus

A little over six months ago, the company launched a partnership with PR Claims, a specialist provider that manages fuel excise duty refund claims, and says its customers have now recovered more than $500,000 in fuel refunds through their system.

Refunds Going Unclaimed Due To Complexity

Farm Focus CEO Marie-Claire Andrews said that for many farmers, refunds of excise duty on petrol used for on-farm off-road use went unclaimed simply because the process felt too complex to pursue.

And at the current rate of 78 cents a litre, it stacks up. Farmers used a lot of petrol-powered vehicles across their paddocks, she said.

"Even just in some of the smaller machinery, if you think about it, if you haven't claimed for everything you've done in terms of maintenance, chainsaws, all sorts of things, for a couple of years, there's thousands of litres probably, so it's worth getting the money back."

Canterbury Farmer Recovers $12,000 In One Year

The Masterton-based company provides financial management software for farmers and rural businesses and has customers throughout New Zealand and in Australia.

It says one of their clients, Canterbury dairy, beef and cropping farmer Mike Smith, recovered around $12,000 from a single year's petrol use through the PR Claims partnership.

"It's all set up digitally and it's easy to use. For farmers, we don't want something to be a hassle," said Smith.

"I don't have time to struggle with things, otherwise I just won't do it. We ended up with around $12,000 back, just from one year's worth of fuel. We all pay a lot of tax in the farming industry, especially in dairy, so it's nice to get something back."

Reducing the Administrative Burden

Andrews said the partnership reduced the administrative burden on busy farming businesses.

She said PR Claims managed the claim process end to end, and refund statements could be imported directly into Farm Focus, keeping records tidy without extra paperwork.

She said the half-million dollar milestone reflected how much eligible money goes unclaimed each year.

"Farmers are under constant pressure to manage costs, and this partnership is helping put real money back into rural businesses. The fact that customers have already recovered more than half a million dollars in refunds shows the scale of the opportunity."

Why the Claims Process Gets Overlooked

PR Claims head of partnerships, Kevin Breen, believed that about 80% of farmers - or "more than would admit to it" - were not bothering to claim refunds of excise duty because it was a bureaucratic process.

"Nine times out of ten, the reason why people haven't claimed their excise duty refund is because they put it in the too hard basket."

He explained that while most other taxes are administered by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD), the fuel excise duty is administered by the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA).

"Not all, but most accountants don't normally deal with it because it's dealing with a different entity other than the IRD."

Integration and Pricing Through the Partnership

Breen said PR Claims also partners with other organisations, but went "one step further" with Farm Focus.

"If the clients give us access, then we can integrate and automate some systems which makes the process even smoother.

"Our normal rate is 15% and but because we partnered with Farm Focus, their customers get an additional two and a half percent off that rate, which makes us by far the cheapest company in New Zealand."