MANITOWOC — Two Manitowoc men received letters from the state notifying them that they would owe taxes on their homemade fuel three days after they appeared in an article in the Herald Times Reporter on March 10.

Steven Griesbach and Paul Simon, both of Manitowoc, said they received a letter from the state Department of Revenue notifying them that they would owe state fuel tax on the fuel that they make and burn in their vehicles.

The letter included instructions for filling out a blender’s fuel report and registration form.

“I’m going to still (make biofuel), but I’m not too happy about the whole thing,” said Paul Simon, who has been burning used, filtrated vegetable oil in his 1982 diesel powered Mercedes-Benz 240D for the last two years.

Under state law, vegetable oil converted to make a motor vehicle fuel is considered a biodiesel, which is a taxable fuel, said Meredith Helgerson, communications officer with the state Revenue Department.

Biodiesel makers must pay the Wisconsin motor vehicle fuel tax rate of about 31 cents per gallon and a 2 cents per gallon inspection fee if the biofuel is blended with diesel that is used for driving on highways, the letter said. If the biodiesel is blended with non-highway diesel, then just the 2 cents per gallon petroleum inspection fee applies, the letter said.

The 2-cent inspection fee funds the state inspections of underground fuel tanks to check for safe operation and that fuel isn’t being leaked into groundwater, Helgerson said.

Taxes owed must be sent to the state on or before the 15th day of the month following the month in which the fuel was used, the letter said.

Griesbach, who isn’t planning to produce any biodiesel for his 1997 diesel engine Chevy Silverado until April, said he was “kind of expecting some sort of rise out of somebody” and believes that someone who read the article reported him to the state.

“I do not know in this specific case how the department became aware of it,” Helgerson said. “However, we frequently receive information from taxpayers and they are investigated to take appropriate action if at all necessary.”

Simon said the form was confusing because it appears to be written for producers and sellers of biodiesel instead of do-it-yourselfers.

“I guess that I’m opposed to it overall for a hobbyist to be charged,” he said. “My reasoning is it would be like making your own beer at home,” he said … You’re allowed to make x amount of gallons without a license … It’s getting to the point in our culture that almost everything that we do is going to be illegal or you need a fee or a license.”

 

Source

Sounds like they need to get in touch with the Wetzel's in Illinois. This just happened to them a month or so ago. They then testified at the State Capitol, and there may be some Il House bill floating around to clarify the who and how about the tax. Check the Illinois forum.

Homebrewers lay low until this ridiculous fuel tax thing is sorted out.  It makes no sense to me to tax fuel that is not purchased.  How will the electricity tax rates change when people start driving electric cars?  Should we start taxing wood we burn for heat in the winter?

For the sake of providing context, I thought I'd add that in Wisconsin, the fuel taxes pay for highway/road repairs. It's a primary source of funds for the DoT. Thus, fuel taxes, are, in fact, more of a road use tax. The blending tax seems a bit ridiculous, as I don't understand what their justification for that is, but it may simply be that I don't understand.

As ebztz pointed out, road taxes are typically used to build and maintain roads. They won't tax wood/solar because that's not to pay for roads.

This is a tricky field for people who produce their own biodiesel. Personally, I'd make sure all the "i"s were dotted and the "t"s crossed when it comes to paying Uncle Sam. That's one of the reasons I buy my bio instead of make it.

natescape:

As ebztz pointed out, road taxes are typically used to build and maintain roads. They won't tax wood/solar because that's not to pay for roads.

This is a tricky field for people who produce their own biodiesel. Personally, I'd make sure all the "i"s were dotted and the "t"s crossed when it comes to paying Uncle Sam. That's one of the reasons I buy my bio instead of make it.

I doubt you missed my analogy, I wasn't proposing taxing wood to pay for roads.  Heating oil and natural gas have excise taxes imposed, just like automobile fuel.  People may call fuel taxes "road taxes", but the roads are not taxed.  I have no problem paying taxes, but I want it to be fair.  Since homebrewers don't pay for their fuel, but just the ingredients, and typically don't go commercial, paying excise taxes on a non-commerical product seems unfair.  Shall we impose taxes on hybrid cars for the amount of petroleum fuel they don't burn from energy saved on regnerative braking?  They aren't paying as much fuel tax as a biodiesel-powered car either.

 But rather then try to recover the miniscule amount of fuel taxes from home-made fuel, perhaps there should be an incentive by waiving taxes on alternative fuels.  Nah, lets keep feeding the pertoleum beast.
 

Please read the wisconsin link about alternative fuel license.

I asked about this last fall.......and knew it was a matter of time. this state isn't a taxpayers nightmare for nothin ya know.

You will nee need the alt. fuels license (free) and pay the taxes. To get the license, you need a BTR certificate ($20.00) Oh, and this all has to be done through electronic funds transfer. Oh, and you might have to put up a cash deposit. Oh, and depending on how much you make, you pay either monthly or quarterly.

http://power.wisconsin.gov/pdf/BiodieselProdGuide090606.pdf

Oh, yeah, and you need special tanks for the methanol AND glycerol.

Pretty funny how gov Doyl wants to promote the use of bio fuels but then turns around and makes it a real pain in the hiney to do it.

 

Good thing Thomas Edison did his inventing back in the day. If it was this day and age, he wouldn't have gotten half as far!

Remember, the glass isn't half empty or half full.... it's twice as big as it needs to be!

I thought there was a maximum you could produce before you were taxed. I thought it was like 400 gallons use, then you pay tax above that per quarter - in Wisconsin atleast.

I will be attending a seminar in Appleton next week in which the fuel policy person from Madison will be there discussing regulations, policies, etc. I am sure taxes will come up.

I believe at the federal level, you can make 400 gallons period and then you pay them as well.

i have not read anything about the state minimums.

 what kind of seminar is going on in appleton?

in any case, keep us posted on what happens. inquiring minds want to know !!! 

The seminar is called On-Farm Biodiesel Production Workshop. This is the link - scroll down a little.

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/outagamie/ 

 It will cover Biodiesel chemically, there may be a processor there for participants to look at, some of what can be done with the left overs from pressing, and the Maria Redmond form Madison will talk about regulations and policy.

I will post back after the seminar on Tues. the 27th

Dang, I wish I'd known about the seminar prior to the registration date. Sounds like a good event.

I am sure if you call the number that is on the linked page, they will probably have no problem getting more attendants. They are serving a lunch and having hand outs - I would think that is the reason for the reg. date. If you don't make it, I will be more than willing to forward any info I recieve.

I will most likely be posting it at my yahoo group BioFuel_Wisconsin also.

Jeff

How did the seminar go? Can I get copies (that I'll happily pay for) of the handouts? Did they discuss oil-extruders (presses) at all?

The seminar was pretty good. I did get some handouts of the presentation slides. I know UW Extension said they would be posting some info on the webpage also. There was one guy there talking about oil presses, etc. It was a pretty full room - 40+ I guess. I will fill in more.

Jeff

I forgot to mention that Ken Walz and Paul Morschauser from Madison Area Tech College brought up their processor that the students built - 50 gal. MATC is going to be offering a 3 day biodiesel course I believe starting on April 2nd - not 100% sure on that - would be easy to find out.

Rudy Pruszko from Iowa State Univ. talked biodiesel basics -how it works and costs.

Maria Redmond is a great source for rules, regs, etc. she is the Alternate Fuels Policy Analyst for the state.

The later part was more geared for farms - Feeding process products to livestock, etc

did you speak with Maria?

I sent her an e-mail asking for general info about 3 weeks ago and have had no responce to date.

I did not speak with Maria - she announced that she would take a couple of questions. They moved her up in the pres. list, so I guess she needed to get going. I wanted to talk to her more about the regs.

I do have her contact info, including phone# if you want that. email me off the forum venomustill at yahoo.com.

 Jeff