Biodiesel for boats attracts the full duty of 30.35ppl, and not a reduced rate of 9.69ppl
Boaters are not getting a biodiesel tax break despite information released with the budget that seems to suggest that boat biofuel would attract a duty of just 9.69 pence per litre.
Instead, the full duty of 30.35ppl applies, which will jump by 20ppl in April 2010 to bring it in line with regular road fuel duty.
The confusion centres around this document , and the term ‘non-road use’, which, oddly, does not include boats, a spokesman from HM Revenue & Customs told MBM.
This low-duty biodiesel is reserved for vehicles such as tractors, mobile cranes and emergency vehicles used at airports, the spokesman said, and “does not extend to private pleasure craft”.
MBM has formally requested that HMRC use less confusing language in future.
For more on this story, see May’s MBM, out 17 April. In the same issue you can read about an exclusive report seen only by MBM that examines exactly what ‘future fuels’ are applicable to motorboats.
