There’s a lot going on for Directors at the moment, please read on if you are a Director to ensure you’re up to date with the latest news.
_________________________________________________________________________
Director Identification Number (DIN)
If you are a Director of a company, or have been a Director of a company from 1 November 2021 to date, you need to apply for a Director Identification Number (DIN) before 30 November 2022.
If you have already completed this, please email us or your ASIC agent your DIN. If you have not already done this, please do this ASAP to avoid significant penalties. Learn more here.
_________________________________________________________________________
ATO Debt
Do you have outstanding ATO debt?
The ATO have taken a harsher approach to handling debt:
- If your debt relates to a company that you are a Director of, you can be issued with a DPN (see below for more details).
- If certain conditions are met, your business may be disclosed by the ATO to credit reporting bureaus which could have further consequences to you and your business. These conditions are as follows:
-
- You have tax debt that totals to more than $100,000 and have not communicated to the ATO about it for more than 90 days.
- You have not actively managed the tax debt
- You have an ABN and is not an excluded entity
- You don’t have an active complaint with the Inspector General of Taxation and Ombudsmen
If you have any outstanding debt, you should be making arrangements to pay this ASAP. If there are any issues with this, you can alternatively contact the ATO or your Advisor to establish a payment plan with the ATO.
_________________________________________________________________________
Director Penalty Notices (DPN)
What is a DPN?
As a company director, you become personally liable for your company’s unpaid amounts of:
- Pay As You Go Withholding (PAYGW)
- Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- Super Guarantee Charge (SGC)
If you have not paid these on time and you have not communicated to the ATO when and how you will be paying them, the ATO can issue you a DPN. Once you receive a DPN, the ATO then has the ability to recover the amounts from your personal assets.
Please note – We are seeing an increased amount of DPN’s being issued coming out of the pandemic. There are over 300 DPNs being send out daily now from the ATO.
How to avoid being sent a DPN
- Have all your tax lodgements up to date
- If your lodgement/s results in tax payable but you can’t afford to pay, still lodge them
- For any tax outstanding, pay ASAP if you can. Otherwise contact the ATO ASAP and communicate your situation and set up a payment plan.
- Should you have outstanding lodgements and/or ATO debt that is not in a payment plan, you will receive reminder and warning notices. Do NOT ignore these notices.
What to do if you receive a DPN?
We recommend your Advisor ASAP, as you only have 21 days to either:
- Pay the amount in full
- Engage with the ATO to negotiate an arrangement. (Please note – some DPNs don’t allow for negotiations)
