Free tool
Fuel levy calculator (Australia)
Work out a supplier's or carrier's fuel levy, or check the one on an invoice against the levy you agreed: what it should be, what it was worked out on, and the difference in dollars and per cent.
Don't know the percentage? Work it out from fuel prices
Fuel levy $249.12.
- $249.12
Over by $44.40. At or above both default floors: CostCode would hold the invoice.
- $44.40(17.82%)
What is a fuel levy?
A fuel levy, or fuel surcharge, is a charge a supplier or carrier adds to an invoice to recover the cost of fuel as its price moves. It sits on its own line under the goods or the freight, and it's meant to go up and down with the price of fuel rather than stay fixed like the rest of the price.
How suppliers and carriers set a fuel levy
It usually takes one of three forms:
- A percentage of the goods (a supplier's levy) or of the freight (a carrier's)
- A flat amount per delivery
- A rate per unit delivered or travelled, such as per tonne, per cubic metre or per kilometre
A percentage is often tied to the price of fuel. The supplier or carrier picks a base fuel price, often the price when their rates were last set, and the share of their cost that is fuel. As fuel moves from the base price, the levy moves with it:
With made-up figures: a base price of 180 cents a litre, fuel now at 210 and fuel at 30% of the cost gives (210 − 180) ÷ 180 × 30% = 5%. The Australian Institute of Petroleum publishes terminal gate prices for diesel and petrol, collated each weekday morning, which some levies follow; which price yours follows, and the share of cost, are for the supplier or carrier to show you.(Australian Institute of Petroleum: Terminal gate prices)
Some carriers review their levy every week against a published fuel price. Whatever the timing, a levy tied to the fuel price should come down when fuel does, as well as go up.
What to agree with a supplier
business.gov.au suggests putting the terms you negotiate with a supplier in a written contract, and lists price and delivery terms among what it should include.(business.gov.au: Suppliers) For a fuel levy, agree:
- Whether there is one at all, and whether it's a percentage, a flat amount or a rate per unit
- What a percentage is of: normally the goods before GST, not the delivery charge or the GST (on a carrier's invoice, the freight)
- The fuel price it follows and the base price, if it moves with fuel
- How often it's reviewed, and how much notice you get before it changes
- A cap, if you want one
- The date it applies from and, if it has one, the date it ends
Get any change in writing before it reaches an invoice: an email from the supplier is enough.
Checking the levy on an invoice: a worked example
A made-up quarry invoice from Bluegum Quarry Supplies (made up), SAMPLE-4417. The levy agreed is 6% of the goods. Every figure is invented to show the arithmetic.
| Line | Qty | Unit | Price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Road base 20mm | Qty: 60 | Unit: t | Price: $38.00 | Amount: $2,280.00 |
| Aggregate 20mm | Qty: 36 | Unit: t | Price: $52.00 | Amount: $1,872.00 |
| Delivery charge | Qty: 4 | Unit: load | Price: $185.00 | Amount: $740.00 |
| Fuel levy 6% | Qty: | Unit: | Price: | Amount: $293.52 |
- The goods come to $4,152.00, so the agreed levy is $4,152.00 × 6% = $249.12.
- The invoice charges $293.52. At 6%, that's the levy on $4,892.00: the goods plus the $740.00 delivery charge.
- The difference is $44.40 (17.82%) over the agreed levy. That's at least $25 and 3%, CostCode's default floors, so CostCode would hold this invoice with the agreed levy beside the one charged.
The same check works on your own invoices in the calculator above. Three things are worth a question to the supplier: a levy you never agreed, a levy worked out on more than the goods, and a levy that edges up from one invoice to the next with no notice. Ask before you dispute it: a levy may be in terms you accepted, or the base may have been agreed differently from what you remember.
Fuel levies in Australia in 2026
On 2 April 2026 the ACCC said a business that presents a surcharge or levy as due to fuel costs must be able to back that up, and it sent substantiation notices to some distributors supplying goods or services to regional and remote Australia, asking them to back up their reasons for sizeable fuel surcharges or levies.(ACCC: ACCC monitors fuel excise cut, fuel surcharges and fuel price movements (2 Apr 2026))
On 20 April 2026 the Fair Work Commission made the Road Transport Contractual Chain Order – Fuel Cost Recovery – 2026, which commenced the next day. It set rules for recovering the increased cost of fuel along road transport contractual chains, and Victoria's guidance says tip truck owner drivers on Victorian Government funded construction projects should have received rates adjusted for it while it applied. Its obligations stopped applying from 8 June 2026, after the weekly average national terminal gate price for diesel fell below $2 a litre.(Victorian Government: Guidance on the Road Transport Contractual Chain Order – Fuel Cost Recovery – 2026)
If a supplier's or carrier's levy went up while fuel was high, it's fair to ask whether it has come back down since.
Fuel levy, fuel excise and fuel tax credits
They're different things. A fuel levy is part of what a supplier or carrier charges you. Fuel excise is a duty on the fuel itself, and fuel tax credits are claimed from the ATO for the fuel tax in fuel used in some business activities. If a fuel tax credit is what you're working out, the ATO's own tools do that.(ATO: Fuel tax credit tools)
How CostCode checks a fuel levy
In CostCode a fuel levy is a charge agreement on the supplier's page, not a row in the schedule of rates: a percentage of the goods, a flat amount, or a rate per unit such as per tonne, with the date it applies from and, if it has one, the date it ends.
Every line on the supplier's invoices that reads as a fuel levy or fuel surcharge is checked against the agreement in force on the invoice date. A percentage is worked out on the invoice's goods lines, before GST and before any credits, so a levy charged on the delivery charge as well comes out over, as in the example above. CostCode doesn't yet check a levy that's a percentage of the freight, such as a carrier's: there are no goods lines to work it out on. A rate per unit is checked in the agreed unit.
By default an invoice is held for a levy only when it's at least $25 and 3% over what was agreed, and Settings can change both. A held invoice waits for your team. A query to the supplier names the levy line on their own invoice and asks them to check it. It never mentions what you've paid before, and it goes only when a person in your team presses send. Supplier email is off until you turn it on.
CostCode can also suggest a levy from the invoices you've uploaded. That's what you paid, not what was agreed, so a difference against a levy saved that way stays with your team until someone on your team who saves rates records that the supplier has confirmed it.
When CostCode shows a levy as unverified
When it can't be sure, CostCode says so rather than guessing. A levy line shows as unverified, with the reason, when:
- There's no fuel levy agreement on the supplier covering the invoice date
- The levy is a percentage and one of the invoice's billed lines couldn't be read or classified, so the goods total isn't known
- A flat levy is billed more than once on one line, each at or under the agreed amount: how many deliveries it covers is for your team to confirm
- A levy per unit is billed in a different unit from the agreement, such as per cubic metre against per tonne
- The levy line has no amount on it
Unverified is never shown as passed.
The free invoice check doesn't check levies against an agreement, because it doesn't have one. Drop in several invoices from one supplier and it lists the charges on top of the goods, fuel levies included: on how many of the invoices, and what they came to in all.
Questions
What is a fuel levy?
A charge a supplier or carrier adds to an invoice to recover the cost of fuel as its price moves. It's usually a percentage of the goods or the freight, a flat amount per delivery, or a rate per unit such as per tonne.
How is a fuel levy calculated?
A percentage levy is the amount it's charged on times the percentage: 6% of $4,152.00 is $249.12. Carriers often set the percentage from fuel prices: the rise in the fuel price since an agreed base price, as a share of that base price, times the share of their cost that is fuel.
What should a fuel levy be charged on?
Whatever you agreed. A supplier's levy is usually a percentage of the goods, and a carrier's a percentage of the freight. It shouldn't be worked out on the GST, or on a delivery charge the agreement leaves out.
Is a fuel levy legal?
It can be, if it's in your agreement or in supplier terms you accepted. In April 2026 the ACCC said a business that presents a surcharge or levy as due to fuel costs must be able to back that up. If you don't know where a levy comes from, ask the supplier before you pay it.(ACCC: ACCC monitors fuel excise cut, fuel surcharges and fuel price movements (2 Apr 2026))
How often can a fuel levy change?
As often as your agreement allows. Some carriers review theirs every week against a published fuel price. Agree how often it's reviewed, which price it follows, and how much notice you get before it changes.
Is a fuel levy the same as fuel excise or fuel tax credits?
No. A fuel levy is part of what a supplier or carrier charges you. Fuel excise is a duty on the fuel itself, and fuel tax credits are claimed from the ATO for the fuel tax in fuel used in some business activities. The ATO's fuel tax credit tools work those out.(ATO: Fuel tax credit tools)
Does CostCode check fuel levies?
Yes, once you've recorded the levy you agreed as a charge on the supplier: a percentage of the goods, a flat amount or a rate per unit, with the dates it applies. Each fuel levy line is checked against the agreement in force on the invoice date, or shown as unverified with the reason. By default an invoice is held only when a levy is at least $25 and 3% over what was agreed.
Sources
- ACCC: ACCC monitors fuel excise cut, fuel surcharges and fuel price movements (2 Apr 2026)
- Victorian Government: Guidance on the Road Transport Contractual Chain Order – Fuel Cost Recovery – 2026
- business.gov.au: Suppliers
- Australian Institute of Petroleum: Terminal gate prices
- ATO: Fuel tax credit tools
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