Excise (Denatured Spirits) Determination 2026
Reference: LI 2026/D13
Document type: Legislative Instrument
Enabling act: Excise Act 1901
Date of issue: 1 June 2026
Signatory: Will Day Deputy Commissioner of Taxation

Draft Excise (Denatured Spirits) Determination 2026: I, Will Day, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation, make the following determination.

1 Name: This instrument is the Excise (Denatured Spirits) Determination 2026. | 2 Commencement: This instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. | 3 Authority: This instrument is made under subsection 77FG(1) of the Excise Act 1901. | 4 Definitions: In this instrument: Act means the Excise Act 1901. CAS registry number means the unique number that is allocated to a chemical substance in the Chemical Registry System of the Chemical Abstracts Service, which is a division of the American Chemical Society. covered denaturant means a chemical substance used for the denaturing of spirits that is listed in column 1 of an item in the table in section 7 with the CAS registry number listed in column 2 of that item. ethanol concentration, in relation to a spirit being denatured, means the proportion of ethanol in the spirit expressed as a decimal value. minimum concentration , in relation to a covered denaturant listed in column 1 of an item in the table in section 7, means the concentration of the covered denaturant listed in column 3 of that item for 100% ethanol. ppm means parts per million. Tariff Schedule means the Schedule to the Excise Tariff Act 1921. v/v means volume per volume, which is a measure of the concentration of a substance in a solution using volume-based measurement. w/w means weight per weight, which is a measure of the concentration of a substance in a mixture or solution using weight-based measurement. | 5 Schedules: Each instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms. | 6 Formula for denaturing spirits: (1) For the purposes of sub-item 3.8 of the Tariff Schedule, a spirit will be denatured if it contains a covered denaturant at a concentration that equals or exceeds the specified concentration calculated under subsection (2). (2) The specified concentration of the covered denaturant is calculated using the following formula: specified concentration = minimum concentration × ethanol concentration specified concentration = minimum concentration × ethanol concentration Note: It does not matter whether the spirit also contains other substances, including other covered denaturants | 7 Table: For the purposes of this instrument, the following table sets out the covered denaturants (in column 1), the corresponding CAS registry numbers (in column 2) and the minimum concentration of the covered denaturants (in column 3). Item Column 1 – Covered denaturant Column 2 – CAS registry number Column 3 – Minimum concentration 1 acetaldehyde 75-07-0 1.0% v/v 2 n-propanol 71-23-8 1.0% v/v 3 n-propyl acetate 109-60-4 1.0% v/v 4 acetone 67-64-1 2.0% v/v 5 denatonium benzoate 3734-33-6 5 ppm 6 ethyl acetate 141-78-6 1.0% v/v 7 propylene glycol mono-methyl ether 107-98-2 1.0% v/v 8 sodium nitrite 7632-00-0 0.25% v/v 9 methyl ethyl ketone 78-93-3 0.5% v/v 10 methoxy propyl acetate 108-65-6 0.5% v/v 11 methanol 67-56-1 5.0% v/v 12 isopropanol 67-63-0 5.0% v/v 13 tertiary butyl alcohol 75-65-0 0.25% v/v 14 methyl isobutyl ketone 108-10-1 0.25% v/v 15 n-hexane 110-54-3 1.0% v/v 16 ethyl ether 60-29-7 1.0% v/v 17 propylene glycol 57-55-6 20.0% v/v 18 sodium hydroxide 1310-73-2 0.25% w/w 19 sodium molybdate 7631-95-0 0.25% w/w 20 sodium tolytriazole 64665-57-2 0.25% w/w Excise (Denatured spirits) Determination 2016 (No. 3) | 1 The whole of the instrument: Repeal the instrument Consultation Subsection 17(1) of the Legislation Act 2003 requires that the Commissioner is satisfied that appropriate and reasonably practicable consultation has been undertaken before they make a legislative instrument. As part of the consultation process, you are invited to comment on the draft instrument and its accompanying draft explanatory statement. Please forward your comments to the contact officer by the due date. Due date: 26 June 2026 Contact officer: Anthony Barnard Email: anthony.barnard@ato.gov.au Phone: 03 9285 1974