What it usually looks like
Trading in fuels and energy is one of the most closely regulated types of business. To sell, you need a licence – one for domestic trading, another for cross-border trading, yet another for production or storage. Then come excise duty, financial security, mandatory stocks and reports filed with several authorities. For electricity and gas the rules are similar, although excise duty and reporting work differently from liquid fuels.
Each of these obligations is manageable on its own. The difficulty is that they are linked. The same quantities appear in the excise records, in the books, in reports to the regulator and in transport notifications. A discrepancy in one place raises questions in the others. And what is at stake is sometimes not only tax but also the licence – that is, the ability to keep selling.
Businesses come to us at different stages: when they are planning to enter the market, when they expand into a new type of fuel or imports, when the tax office asks questions, when the owner or management board changes. We always start by checking whether what the business does matches what it has in its licence and its documents.
Points to watch
A licence has its limits
A licence sets out what the business may trade in, where and how. A new type of fuel, a new storage facility, imports or a change in the management board may require an amendment to the licence or a notification – before the first transaction, not after it.
Excise duty: the route of the goods and the document
Whether and when excise duty must be paid depends on the route of the goods: where they left from, where they arrived, under which procedure and on the basis of which document. Exemptions and duty suspension require formal conditions to be met – and documents to prove it.
Guarantees and security cost money
The excise guarantee and the financial security required for some licences tie up cash or bank credit lines. It is worth planning them together with the company’s financing and making sure their amount and validity keep pace with the scale of sales.
The records have to agree
Quantities in the excise records, in the warehouse, on invoices and in reports should reconcile with each other at any time. Comparing this data regularly makes it possible to catch differences before an audit does.
Know your counterparty
In this sector the tax office expects a business to know who it buys from and who it sells to. Checking a counterparty’s licence, registration and reliability, and keeping a record of that check, protects your VAT position in an audit.
How we work – step by step
We get to know the business
We establish what the business trades in, where it buys from, how it transports and stores the goods and who it sells to. We compare this with the licences, excise authorisations and registrations the business already has.
We point out gaps and risks
We describe briefly what is in order, what needs to be completed and what must be dealt with before the next transaction. We deal first with anything that could interrupt sales.
We handle licence and excise matters
We prepare applications for a licence, its amendment or extension, excise notifications and the documents needed to put security in place. We handle correspondence with the authorities until the matter is closed.
We set up records and document flow
With the finance and logistics teams we agree who keeps which records, where the data comes from and how it is reconciled with the books.
We draw up a calendar of obligations
Reports, fees, security renewals, changes to licence details – we list them in one place with deadlines and the people responsible. When the law changes, we tell you what it means for the business.
We help during audits
When the tax office announces an audit or asks questions, we help prepare the documents and explanations. We describe what such a matter looks like on the Tax audits and disputes page.