Registering your motor and heating fuels business and premises
Find out if you need to register your business if you produce, import, warehouse, sell or deal in motor and heating fuels.
Registering your business
| Type of business | If the business needs to register |
|---|---|
| Hydrocarbon (mineral) oils producers | You must register your business and your premises where oil production will take place. Additionally, oils liable for fuel duty must be stored in premises that are approved and registered with HMRC as an excise warehouse. You must register if you want to become a deferment trader and defer the payment of excise duty. |
| Biofuels and other fuel substitutes producers | You need to register if you produce more than 2,500 litres a year, or use more than 2,500 litres a year as motor fuel on which duty has not already been paid. |
| Road fuel gas producers | You need to register if you intend to send out, set aside or supply gas for use as fuel in road vehicles. |
| Dealers in rebated (controlled) oils | Apply to become a Registered Dealer in Controlled Oils (RDCO) if you want to supply either commercial or private end-users with red diesel, marked rebated kerosene or Avtur in bulk. You also need to apply to become a RDCO if you buy controlled oils in bulk but sell it in containers of 20 litres or less. |
| Fuel card company owners | Apply to become a RDCO if you own the cards and your customers fill up at pumps owned by an oil company. You do not need to register if the oil company owns the cards and you simply handle the admin. |
| Hardware store owners | Apply to become a RDCO if you buy in bulk and either pre-package yourself into containers of 20 litres or less or decant into customer containers. |
| Plant hire firms | Apply to become a RDCO if you supply controlled oil in your vehicle tanks and only provide the vehicle, not the driver. |
| Farmers | Apply to become a RDCO only if you run a tractor hire business. Not if you occasionally hire out a tractor with a tank of controlled oil or let a contractor occasionally fill their vehicles from your fuel stocks. |
| Main contractors supplying subcontractors | Apply to become a RDCO only if you supply subcontractors with controlled oil for use away from your site. |
| Agents, cooperatives, buying groups and machinery rings | If you’re an agent who arranges supply of controlled oils for someone else, you do not need to register if the supplier is a RDCO who accepts your customer is the end user, delivers directly to them, and invoices them instead of you. |
Registering your premises
Some processes which are considered to be oil production can only be performed at premises approved by HMRC.
To complete your registration you must tell HMRC about the premises, plant and places to be used for that production. This is known as ‘making entry’.
To tell HMRC about your premises, use:
- form EX103 - if you are a sole trader or partnership
- form EX103A - if you are an incorporated company
HMRC may visit your premises to examine its suitability.
You’ll not need to make entry if:
- you’re already approved as a tied oil user, repayment user or a furnace operator
- production is in the course of using oil under the terms of your authorisation
Read more about:
- the conditions you must fulfil as an oil producer
- your responsibilities as a biofuel and other fuel substitutes producer
Approval for motor and heating fuels warehouses
If you want to receive and store motor and heating fuel products where the charge to excise duty has been suspended, you must first apply for approval of the premises.
You can apply for approval using form EX70 and form EX71. You should send the forms to the National Registration Unit as soon as possible to make sure your application can be fully considered before the warehouse is required for use.
Read more about approval and entry of motor and heating fuel duty suspended premises.
Becoming a Registered Dealer in Controlled Oils
Before you can deal in controlled oils, you’ll need to apply to become an RDCO.
HMRC will decide if you can be approved using the details you give.
Read more about being an RDCO and how to apply.
Updates to this page
Published 9 November 2009Last updated 10 December 2019 + show all updates
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The guidance has been updated to clarify if you need to register your motor and heating fuels business and premises if you're a hydrocarbon (mineral) oils producer, biofuels and other fuel substitutes producer or road fuel gas producer.
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Link added to the latest service availability and issues information.
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First published.