The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in response to shortages of undyed
diesel fuel caused by Hurricane Harvey, will not impose a penalty when dyed
diesel fuel is sold for use or used on the highway.
This relief applies beginning Aug. 25, 2017, in the areas and counties for
which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued waivers for Texas Low
Emission Diesel Fuel. Those areas and counties are as follows: The
Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area (the counties of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend,
Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller); the Beaumont-Port Arthur
area (the counties of Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange); the Dallas-Fort Worth
area (the counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman,
Parker, and Rockwall); and the counties of Anderson, Angelina, Aransas,
Atascosa, Austin, Bastrop, Bee, Bell, Bexar, Bosque, Bowie, Brazos, Burleson,
Caldwell, Calhoun, Camp, Cass, Cherokee, Colorado, Comal, Cooke, Coryell, De
Witt, Delta, Falls, Fannin, Fayette, Franklin, Freestone, Goliad, Gonzales,
Grayson, Gregg, Grimes, Guadalupe, Harrison, Hays, Henderson, Hill, Hood,
Hopkins, Houston, Hunt, Jackson, Jasper, Karnes, Lamar, Lavaca, Lee, Leon,
Limestone, Live Oak, Madison, Marion, M atagorda, McLennan, Milam, Morris,
Nacogdoches, Navarro, Newton, Nueces, Panola, Polk, Rains, Red River, Refugio,
Robertson, Rusk, Sabine, San Jacinto, San Patricio, San Augustine, Shelby,
Smith, Somervell, Titus, Travis, Trinity, Tyler, Upshur, Van Zandt, Victoria,
Walker, Washington, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, Wise, and Wood.
This penalty relief is available to any person that sells or uses dyed fuel
for highway use. In the case of the operator of the vehicle in which the dyed
fuel is used, the relief is available only if the operator or the person
selling the fuel pays the tax of 24.4 cents per gallon that is normally applied
to diesel fuel for highway use. The IRS will not impose penalties for failure
to make semimonthly deposits of this tax. IRS Publication 510, Excise Taxes,
has information on the proper method for reporting and paying the tax.
Ordinarily, dyed diesel fuel is not taxed, because it is sold for uses
exempt from excise tax, such as to farmers for farming purposes, for home
heating use and to local governments for buses.
Finally, consistent with the EPA waivers, this penalty waiver for dyed
diesel is effective through Sept. 15, 2017. Also, consistent with the EPA
waiver, this waiver does not apply to the Internal Revenue Code penalty for
using adulterated fuels that do not comply with applicable EPA
regulations. Consequently, diesel fuel with sulfur content higher than 15
parts-per-million may not be used in highway vehicles.
The IRS is closely monitoring the situation and will provide additional
relief as needed.
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