IMPORTANT NOTICE
PREMIUMS ON OIL CHANGES IS REPEALED AND REPLACED WITH
PREMIUMS ON BULK MOTOR VEHICLE OIL
Recent legislation repealed the premiums imposed on motor vehicle oil changes and replaced it with a premium imposed on bulk motor vehicle oil. (PL 2007,Chapter 618) Oil changes provided on or after August 1, 2008 will no longer be subject to the $1, $2, or $3 premium. A new premium effective August 1, 2008 is imposed at $1.10 per gallon for gasoline engine bulk motor vehicle oils and 35¢ per gallon for diesel engine bulk motor vehicle oils sold or distributed in the State. Unlike the premium imposed on oil changes, this premium is imposed on the “motor vehicle oil dealer that makes the first sale or distribution of bulk motor vehicle oil in the State”. All premiums must be paid monthly to the State Tax Assessor.
The statute provides the following definitions:
“Bulk motor vehicle oil” means all motor vehicle oil other than prepackaged motor vehicle oil.
“Prepackaged motor vehicle oil” means motor vehicle oil sold in a container with a volume not in excess of 5 gallons.
“Motor vehicle oil” means any lubricating oil classified for use in the crankcase of an internal combustion engine, including but not limited to natural, synthetic, and rerefined motor oils, whether or not in retail containers.
“Diesel engine bulk motor vehicle oil” means diesel engine bulk motor vehicle oil meeting the performance requirements of American Petroleum Institute CJ-4 standards and all preceding specifications under those standards, inclusive of all viscosity grades.
“Gasoline engine bulk motor vehicle oil” means gasoline engine bulk motor vehicle oil meeting the performance requirements of American Petroleum Institute SM and International Lubricant Standardization and Approval CommitteeGF-4 standards and all preceding specifications under those standards, inclusive of all viscosity grades.
“Motor vehicle oil dealer” means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of producing, packaging, or otherwise preparing motor vehicle oil for market, or selling, or distributing motor vehicle oil.
To retailers providing oil change services and to fleet owners conducting their own oil changes:
- You are no longer required to collect and/or report the $1, $2, and $3 oil change premiums on or after August 1, 2008.
To motor vehicle oil dealers:
- The premiums on bulk motor vehicle oil are effective on sales or distributions in Maine that occur on or after August 1, 2008.
- Premium is only imposed on “bulk” oil (containers of more than 5 gallons), not on “prepackaged” oil.
- The sales and use tax return will be the mechanism to report the premium. Please use line 14A for this purpose. The return is due on the 15 th of the following month. (August period due on September 15 th)
- Although the return will only require one entry for the total premiums for the period, you must maintain documentation to support detailed sales of gasoline and diesel oils that were used to arrive at the total.
- If you are not registered for Maine sales and use tax, an application form can be obtained at http://www.maine.gov/revenue/salesuse/homepage.html or you can apply online.
- The premium is imposed on the dealer and applies to all sales or distributions in Maine. The statute provides no exemptions based on who the purchaser or end user is nor with respect to what the urchaser or end user will do with the oil.
- Exports by the dealer to another state are not Maine sales and would not be subject to this premium.
- If you are adding sales tax to the invoice of a customer, the sales tax applies to the entire sales price including the premium.
For more information on this topic, please contact the Sales, Fuel and Special Tax Division at (207) 624-9693 or email us at sales.tax@maine.gov.
