HCOTEG11750 - Introduction and overview of oils activity: where do staff involved with Fuel Duties work?
Staff involved with Fuel Duties carry out their work in a variety of locations:
Frontiers
Staff have responsibility for docks and wharves where crude oil and finished oil products are discharged by tankers at import from other countries. These are usually adjacent to refineries or oil storage terminals. They may also be involved in assuring the supply of oils for export.
Marine fuels such as marine gas oil (MGO*) and marine diesel, and aircraft fuels such as AVTUR and AVGAS may be supplied for use as fuel in foreign-going aircraft and ships, or as ships and aircraft stores.
Large Business (LB) Oils Assurance.
Staff may be responsible for the oils majors production premises (refineries) or for their head offices and accounting departments. Each oils major has a Central Accounting Point (CAP), which collates the mineral oils duty liability and returns information for a number of sites, and who may be involved in ‘netting’ duty repayments from the duty due. Central Accounting Point Officers (CAPOs) are responsible for particular companies.
Refinery/Production Premises
Staff may visit oil terminals, and at motor and heating oil producers ‘entered’ premises, where crude oil and natural gas is received by pipeline from the North Sea or from other countries, and where gas condensate may be recovered.
They are involved in the day-to-day control and assurance of oil production at refineries, where crude oil is distilled and processed to produce a variety of oil products, and at oils production warehouses where feedstocks and finished oils products are stored duty suspended, and may be mixed and blended, or used in the production process.
The oils warehouses may consist of bulk tank storage for crude oils or semi-finished product at import, for the storage of oils following production or for the remote storage of ‘excess’ production prior to its delivery to home use, or for export by pipeline, road tank wagon, rail tank wagon or ship.
Head Office
Staff including CAPOs in Large Business (LB) assure the excise duty and VAT on oil delivered to home use, by selective examination and verification of oil producers oil returns, duty payments, records and accounts. They also assure the excise duty and VAT on oil moved by Cross Country Pipeline (CCP) operators and users, take account of oil mixed in pipelines, and examine and verify pipeline adjustment schedules, duty payments or adjustments, records and accounts, taking account of oil removed at interceptors, or which has become contaminated or mixed, and which needs to be processed or mixed with other oil.
Marking premises
Staff may be involved in the marking of duty suspended oils in oil Producers Premises, or of duty paid oils received at Remote Marking Premises (RMP) from import, and in verifying duty repayment claims on marked oils.
Controlled oils distributors
Staff in LB and ISBC are involved in the control and assurance of rebated and duty-relieved oils, under schemes implemented as part of the Oils Strategy, encouraging compliance and preventing fraud and diversion of oils to ineligible use, mainly as road fuel.
Under the Registered Dealers in Controlled Oils (RDCO) scheme, marked gas oil (MGO), marked biodiesel and bioblend, and marked kerosene (MKO) may be supplied for use in an excepted machine.
Tied Oil distributors/users.
A wide variety of oil products may be supplied relieved of excise duty for industrial use, under the Tied Oils scheme. Oils assurance staff are involved in controlling and assuring the use of oils for use in solvents, paints and other industrial uses or to be incorporated in composite products. They may also be involved in processing and checking repayment claims where Tied Oils have been supplied duty-paid.
Mineral oil reliefs
ISBC Fuel Duty (Oils) assurance staff may be involved in assuring the supply of a variety of rebated and relieved oils supplied under various mineral oil reliefs, including ‘Marine voyages’ and ‘Horticultural use’.
Processing centres
In addition to the work carried out by Fuel Duty assurance, staff in Corporate Finance based in Southend and Cumbernauld, process oils returns, account for duty payments, processing claims and make repayments, or at least have done so until recently.
The Mineral Oils Relief Centre (MORC) Approvals Team is based in Newcastle. They process:
- RDCO approvals
- Tied Oil 'Distributors and Users' approvals
- applications for registration to those schemes
- applications to make 'entry of premises' for biofuels (motor and heating fuels) producers
- most mineral oil relief claims and Tied Oils returns
- HO10 deferred duty returns from the oils majors
- HO930 return (biofuels)
- C&E 930a return (gas as road fuel)
Corporate Finance's Central Deferment Office (CDO), Southend, still check actual bank receipts for the HO10.
Other staff in the National Approval Centre (NAC) and the National Registration Centres are involved in the authorisation of oils traders, and for the approval, registration and ‘entry’ of their production premises, tax warehouses and wharves. Staff at the NRC, maintain the SEED database, whilst staff at the National Verification Centre (NVC) administer and process requests for verification of movements of oil made under electronic Administrative Documents (eADs) between Northern Ireland and EU Member States.
The EMCS National Service Desk can answer EMCS procedural queries, including use of fallback procedures when there is a fault with the electronic system.
Technical or business queries can be forwarded to the EMCS Helpline. the email address for this is emcs.helpdesk@hmrc.gov.uk