Where does the carbon tax abolition leave businesses?

Accounting firm RSM Bird Cameron has outlined the initial impact of the abolition of the carbon pricing mechanism on businesses.

Existing obligations for 2013-14 remain, which means that liable entities must still pay carbon tax and reporting under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) scheme will continue unchanged.

“Liable entities must still meet their registration, reporting (including reports from liability transfer certificate holders), auditing and acquittal obligations for the 2013-14 financial year,” said Tim Pittaway, principal, risk advisory services, RSM Bird Cameron. “All unregistered liable entities and controlling corporations reporting under the NGER Act must register for the 2013-14 reporting year by 31 August 2014.

“Further, any liable entity with an emissions number exceeding 125,000 must still arrange to have a pre-submission audit performed.”

The Jobs and Competitiveness Program (JCP) has also been discontinued from 1 July 2014. Pittaway said, “If a business received assistance for 2013-14 under the JCP, a report will be required to the Clean Energy Regulator as part of a true-up process.”

Pittaway added that there isn’t a lot of information on the state of the Emissions Reduction Fund. He said, “Organisations which may benefit from the funding potentially available under the ERF should be reviewing their activities and identifying potential projects now to determine how best to take advantage.

“There may be significant planning and strategic decisions involved in determining the best position to take, project feasibility, registering projects and participating in the auction process. Examples of some projects that will be eligible under the ERF include capturing methane from wastewater facilities and energy-efficiency improvements in the commercial building sector.”

The Carbon Farming Initiative approach will also be expanded so that other parts of the economy can access the system. According to Pittaway, “This includes areas like energy efficiency, waste coal mine gas, cleaning up power stations, the transport sector and large industrial facilities.”