eFile Excise720!
What Is Tax Remittance?
Remittance tax refers to a business's legal obligation to calculate, report, and send (remit) a tax payment to the IRS after performing a taxable activity. For federal excise taxes, that remittance process runs through IRS Form 720 the Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return. In plain terms, the cycle works like this:
- Your business performs a taxable activity (selling certain fuel, importing taxable products, providing communications services, etc.)
- You calculate how much excise tax is owed
- You report the liability on Form 720
- You remit payment to the IRS by the quarterly deadline
- You retain documentation in case of an IRS audit
Failing to complete any of these steps accurately - or on time - exposes your business to IRS penalties, interest, and compliance risk. eFileExcise720.com automates and simplifies every step of this cycle.
Who Must File and Remit Federal Excise Taxes?
Federal excise tax obligations are activity-based, not entity-type-based. Your business likely has a remittance obligation if you are involved in any of the following:
| Business Type | Common Excise Tax Exposure |
|---|---|
| Fuel distributors & terminal operators | Dyed diesel, LUST tax, aviation fuel |
| Manufacturers of taxable goods | Manufacturer excise taxes |
| Importers of taxable products | Imported petroleum, PCORI, environmental taxes |
| Air transportation providers | Air ticket and freight taxes |
| Communications service providers | Federal communications excise tax |
| Health plan sponsors | PCORI fee (Form 720, Part II) |
| Any business with IRS excise exposure | All Form 720 categories |
If your business falls into any of these categories, you are required to file Form 720 and remit the associated tax - regardless of whether the cost is passed through to customers.
How Tax Remittance Works: The Form 720 Filing Process
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Step 1 - Identify your taxable activities
Map your operations against the IRS excise tax categories that apply. Your exposure is driven by invoices, bill-of-lading records, import entries, usage logs, and service transaction data.
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Step 2 - Calculate your excise tax liability
Compute tax owed using the correct IRS unit of measure - gallons, barrels, tickets, premiums, or headcount, depending on the category. Accurate calculations depend on clean source data and correct Form 720 line mapping.
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Step 3 - Report using Form 720
Complete the applicable sections of Form 720. Certain categories require supporting schedules. eFileExcise720.com guides you through every line item with built-in category support, reducing the risk of misclassification.
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Step 4 - Remit payment to the IRS
After reporting, remit payment according to IRS deposit rules. Some taxpayers have semimonthly deposit requirements depending on liability size. Late or incorrect payments trigger penalty exposure - our platform flags payment timing requirements during your filing.
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Step 5 - Retain records
Maintain workpapers, source documents, and filed returns for a minimum of 3 years. eFileExcise720.com stores your filing history so you have a clean audit trail at all times.
Federal Excise Tax Remittance Deadlines -
2026 Quarterly Schedule
Missing a deadline triggers automatic IRS penalties. Mark these dates now:
Q1
January to March
due April 30, 2026
Q2
April to June
due July 31, 2026
Q3
July to September
due October 31, 2026
Q4
October to December
due January 31, 2027
Important: When a due date falls on a weekend or federal holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day. eFileExcise720.com sends automated reminders before each quarter closes so you never miss a filing window.
Common Excise Taxes That Require Form 720 Remittance
Your Form 720 filing may cover one or more of the following federal excise tax categories:
- Fuel excise taxes - aviation gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and alternative fuels
- PCORI fees - applicable to self-insured health plan sponsors
- Air transportation taxes - passenger tickets and air freight
- Communications taxes - applicable federal communications excise tax scenarios
- Manufacturer excise taxes - depending on product type and transaction structure
- LUST tax - Leaking Underground Storage Tank tax on certain fuel sales
- Environmental taxes - domestic petroleum oil spill tax, imported petroleum products
Remittance Tax vs. Refund Claims: Knowing the Difference
Sometimes businesses overpay excise taxes or later qualify for an exemption or credit.
The form you use depends on the direction of the obligation:
| Situation | Correct IRS Form |
|---|---|
| Reporting and paying excise tax liability | Form 720 |
| Claiming a refund or credit of excise taxes | Form 8849 |
| Correcting a previously filed Form 720 | Form 720-X |
eFileExcise720.com supports all three - Form 720 filings, 720-X amendments, and Form 8849 refund claims - within a single platform.
Common Tax Remittance Mistakes And How to Avoid Them
Even experienced finance teams make these errors when managing excise taxes manually:
- Wrong unit of measure - Using gallons instead of barrels, or misclassifying a transaction type, creates underpayment or overpayment risk. Our platform applies the correct IRS unit of measure per Form 720 line automatically.
- Filing the wrong excise category - Mapping a product to the wrong Form 720 line is a common error during manual filing. Built-in category support in eFileExcise720.com reduces misclassification risk.
- Incomplete submissions - Missing required schedules or having inconsistent totals triggers IRS correspondence. Our pre-submission validation catches these issues before filing.
- Confusing Form 720 with Form 8849 - Using the wrong form for the wrong purpose is a fixable but time-consuming error. Our platform guides you to the correct form based on your situation.
- Missing quarterly deadlines - When multiple departments contribute data, quarter-end can slip. Our automated deadline reminders keep your team aligned.
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The final person I talked to was able to really help me and stayed on the line until the issue was resolved. I was about to end the call but she convinced me that she knew what i needed to do. A very good customer service person. Superior!.
The final person I talked to was able to really help me and stayed on the line until the issue was resolved. I was about to end the call but she convinced me that she knew what i needed to do. A very good customer service person. Superior!.
Frequently Asked Questions
Start Your Form 720 Filing - IRS-Authorized,
Secure, and Fast
Over 10,000 businesses rely on eFileExcise720.com to meet their federal excise tax remittance obligations every quarter. Whether you're filing for the first time or correcting a prior return, our platform supports every Form 720 category with a guided, web-based workflow.
Q2 2025 deadline: July 31, 2025
File Form 720 Online Now Talk to a Filing ExpertIRS-authorized e-file provider. No software download required. Supports all Form 720 categories including PCORI, fuel taxes, and environmental excise taxes.