Imagine leaving a stack of cash sitting on the workbench, or walking past a bundle of $50 notes on the pavement every single day. Sounds ridiculous, right?
Yet, across New Zealand, an estimated 70% of eligible businesses are doing essentially the exact same thing.
If your business uses petrol in off-road equipment whether it is a farm quad bike, a construction generator, a landscaping lawnmower, or a commercial boat you are legally entitled to claim back Petrol Excise Duty (FED). But despite thousands of dollars being up for grabs, the vast majority of Kiwi businesses never claim a single cent.
Why are so many businesses missing out? Let us look at the roadblocks that create the “70% trap” and how PR Claims makes escaping it completely effortless.
Roadblock 1: The “Invisible Tax” Misconception
Unlike standard invoices or service bills, Petrol Excise Duty isn’t broken out as a separate line item that flashes warning signs on your statement. It is baked quietly into the retail price at the pump.
Because you pay it automatically when you fuel up your vehicle or jerry can, it is easy to view fuel simply as a flat cost of doing business. Business owners rarely connect the pump price with a government-managed tax that they have a legal right to claw back. If you don’t know the money is recoverable, you’ll never think to look for it.
Roadblock 2: The Administrative Nightmare (MR70 Forms and Strict Deadlines)
If a business owner does know about fuel refunds, they usually run straight into the second major hurdle: the paperwork.
Filing claims directly with NZTA Waka Kotahi requires navigating the MR70 process. This means:
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Meticulously matching fuel supplier invoices across the quarter.
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Tracking asset usage to separate on-road versus off-road consumption.
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Managing strict quarterly deadlines with harsh financial penalties if you miss the window.
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Remembering that claims have a strict two-year lookback period meaning if you miss a quarter, it is gone forever.
For tradies, farmers, and contractors already working 50+ hour weeks, spending evenings wrestling with government compliance forms lands the task squarely in the too-hard basket.
Roadblock 3: The “My Accountant Handles It” Myth
A common misconception is that your standard accountant is automatically taking care of your fuel excise refunds.
In reality, most accountants focus on end-of-year IRD financial statements, income tax, and GST returns. NZTA fuel excise refunds operate under an entirely different system, with separate quarterly rules. Because accountants rarely track your day-to-day off-road fuel usage or chase down individual fuel receipts across suppliers like Farmlands, BP, or Z, these refunds quietly slip through the cracks.
How PR Claims Breaks Down the Barriers
Leaving thousands of dollars of your hard-earned cash sitting with the government doesn’t make sense especially when you can hand the whole headache to a specialist.
At PR Claims, we built our entire service to eliminate the friction that keeps businesses from claiming what they are owed:
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Zero Upfront Risk: We operate on a no-recovery, no-fee basis. If we don’t get your money back, you pay nothing.
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Automated and Simple: We connect seamlessly with platforms like Xero to pull your fuel invoices directly, meaning no manual data entry or hunting for lost receipts.
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We Handle the Heavy Lifting: From setting up your initial registration to managing quarterly NZTA submissions and maximizing your two-year back-claim, we take care of everything.
Conclusion
Don’t be part of the 70% statistic leaving money at the petrol pump. If your machinery operates off-road, that cash belongs in your business’s bank account not the government’s transport fund.
Ready to see what you are owed? Register with PR Claims today it takes minutes to get started, and you could uncover a substantial cash boost waiting in your back-claims.
