In New South Wales, holders of mining leases or sub-leases are liable to pay royalty for coal extracted from their leases.
Mining, Exploration and Geoscience within the Department of Regional NSW grants mining leases, regulates mining, exploration and production, and has responsibility for mining legislation and policy.
Royalty returns and payments are lodged with Revenue NSW. Revenue NSW is also responsible for assessments, compliance audits and the recovery of unpaid royalty.
1.1 The Instructions for return lodgement
These instructions have been developed by Revenue NSW, in collaboration with Mining Exploration and Geoscience within the Department of Regional NSW, to assist leaseholders to fulfil their obligations under the:
You must refer to Part 14 of the Act, Part 7 of the Regulation and the Determination when reading these Instructions.
For additional information about royalties, visit the Royalties page and NSW Mining, Exploration and Geoscience.
The effective date of these Instructions is 1 July 2023, and they replace all previously issued guidelines and instructions for lodging coal royalty returns.
1.2 Liability for coal royalties
The holders of mining leases and sub-leases (leaseholders) are liable to pay royalties to the state of New South Wales for coal recovered from the land under their mining leases. Liability remains with the leaseholder even if the leaseholder appoints an agent or other party to lodge their royalty returns and make their payments. A leaseholder can only include coal that has been recovered from their own mining lease in their royalty return.
1.2.1 Liability for coal royalties – privately owned coal
Where coal is privately-owned, leaseholders are still required to lodge royalty returns and pay royalty. An amount equalling seven-eighths of the royalty that is paid by the leaseholder to the state, will be paid to the owner of the coal by the Minister.
1.3 How royalty is calculated on coal
Coal royalty is calculated on the value of the coal recovered from a mining lease within a royalty period. The amount and value of the coal recovered in a period is taken to be the amount and value of the coal disposed of in that period.
The extraction method determines the royalty rate to be applied. Royalty rates are shown at section 1.4 of these instructions.
The value of coal recovered must be calculated in accordance with the Determination.
1.4 Rates of royalty for coal
The rate of royalty depends on the method used to extract the coal.
Recovery Method | Royalty Rate |
|---|
Open Cut Mining Means mining carried out at a mine in which coal is extracted by open cut methods. | 8.2% |
Underground Mining Means mining (other than deep underground mining) carried out at a mine in which coal is extracted other than by open cut methods. | 7.2% |
Deep Underground Mining Means mining carried out at a mine in which coal situated at a depth of 400 metres or more is extracted by means other than open cut methods. | 6.2% |
The royalty rate is applied to the value of coal recovered. The value of coal recovered is calculated as per the Determination.
1.5 Lodging your royalty returns and payment
Coal royalty returns are required to be lodged monthly with Revenue NSW through Royalty Online Services (ROS). If you are a leaseholder or a person authorised on behalf of the leaseholder, you must complete a User Access Form (PDF, 146.99 KB) to register for ROS.
Revenue NSW uses Okta authentication to manage access to ROS through a single, secure home page. Once you are registered for ROS, you will receive instructions on how to activate your Okta account.
When you activate your Okta account, you will be required to provide a second factor of authentication prior to being permitted access to ROS.
If ROS detects no activity for 30 minutes, you will be automatically logged out. You will need to log in to ROS again if this occurs.
Password and Okta related enquiries should be directed to the Service Desk on 1300 697 679.
Royalty return enquiries should be directed to us at [email protected] or on 1300 139 817.
Royalty returns and payments are due on or before the 21st day of the month which follows the return period, for example: your February return and royalty payment is due by the 21st of March. Leaseholders are responsible for ensuring returns are lodged on time and accurately.
1.6 The monthly coal royalty return
The monthly coal royalty return consists of three sections:
- Assessable Revenue
- Allowable Deductions
- Royalty Calculation
You are required to complete sections 1 and 2 based on records that relate to the recovery and disposal of coal from your lease. In section 3, the ROS system calculates the totals and the amount of royalty due based on the data you have entered.
The return includes:
- Tool tips – to assist you with completing each data field.
- Document upload – documents such as sales registers that relate to the disposals in the royalty period can now be uploaded with your lodgement to support the data that you have entered.
The following screenshots show the coal royalty return with sample data entered to illustrate the calculation of the value of coal recovered and the royalty payable.
Assessable Revenue
This is the Assessable Revenue screen. Data on coal disposals, foreign exchange gains and losses and interest received is entered here.
Allowable Deductions
This is the Allowable Deduction screen. Data on beneficiation, levies and other deductions are entered here.
This is the Coal Stocks screen. You enter the Opening and Closing Stock values in this screen.
Royalty Calculation
This is the Royalty Calculation screen. It calculates the royalty payable from the data you have entered.
1.6.1 Document upload
The monthly coal royalty return includes a facility where you can upload documents in support of the data that you have entered. Documents, such as the sales register, which relate to the export, domestic and other disposals for a royalty period may be uploaded.
This document upload facility provides an avenue for customers to provide information that further validates any of the data returned.
The following file types are accepted: png, jpg, gif, xls, xlsx, doc, docx and csv.
Step 1: Customer enters all Lease information and selects “Next”
This screen is where the customer can access the document upload facility in the royalty return.
Step 2: For June Returns, the Employment & Capital Expenditure screen displays first – for all other months, the file upload screen appears
This is the file upload screen.
Step 3: User selects “Choose file” and selects the relevant file to upload
This screen shows the “choose file” button. You choose a file to upload to the royalty return.
Step 4: The file appears next to the “Choose file” button. The user then selects “Upload”
This is the document upload screen showing the chosen file to upload to the royalty return. The customer selects the upload button.
Step 5: Successful upload of an accepted file type will be show in green
This is the document upload screen showing a successful upload of an attachment to the royalty return.
Step 6: An unsuccessful attempt to upload an unsupported file type will be shown in red
This is the document upload screen showing an unsuccessful upload of an attachment to the royalty return.
