Director Personal Liability for company debts – top 5 ways to get stung

A common question we are asked is whether a director is personally liable for a company’s debts. The easy answer is “no”.  But there are a number of ways a director can be made personally liable.  The ones that get the most coverage are insolvent trading and director penalty notices but there are other more common ways. Click Here To Read More

ATO – the unwritten process of enforcement

Most businesses are aware that the ATO has a range of strong enforcement actions it can use in pursuing debts from companies: Director Penalty Notices; Garnishee Notices; Demands and Wind-up Petitions.  What the ATO doesn’t publish is the order and timing of those actions.  At Dissolve we receive calls from directors and their advisers every day so we get to see on-the-ground what actions the ATO takes and when. Click Here To Read More

Extra Director Personal Liability – a reprieve as new laws delayed

I’ve banged on about the proposed new Director Personal liability laws in numerous blogs in the past few months and how Treasury was pushing them through based on a few furphies.  The legislation was before Parliament this month.  Well directors can breathe a little easier … for a while.  It was announced this week that the legislation had been withdrawn but will be reintroduced in early 2012.

You’ll recall that the laws would have dramatically increased the prospect of automatic director personal liability for tax debts – don’t lodge your Quarterly BASs for three months then a director would have been automatically personally liable for PAYG and Super contributions.

I’ve expressed some firm views on this topic.  Click Here To Read More

ATO gets tough on tax collections

After the GFC the ATO was very generous in extending payment arrangements to struggling companies and it also went easy on its use of its debt collection tools – Director Penalty Notices, Garnishees and Wind Up Notices.  Those times are over.  I’ve spent some time recently reviewing the ATO annual reports since 2008 (yes, really!) and it reveals a much tougher stance by the ATO in 2010/11. Click Here To Read More

Director Personal Liability for Tax Debts – the ATO and Treasury furphies

New legislation is currently before Parliament to dramatically extend Director personal liability under the Director Penalty Notice.  I think the legislation is well founded but, make no mistake, it is a very significant legislation and I remain dismayed at the reasons being proposed by the ATO and Treasury in support of the legislation. Click Here To Read More

A warning for your lazy clients – Director Information Sheet now available

I mentioned a month ago that Accountants needed to warn their clients of the impending changes to the Director Penalty Notice  regime – in brief, there is a substantial move towards automatic director personal liability for company PAYG and Superannuation Deduction liabilities.

I’ve prepared a Director Information Sheet at www.dissolve.com.au/director-info-sheet which is designed to provide Public Accountants with some ammunition to send to their …. recalcitrant… clients.   Click Here To Read More

Changes to Director Penalty Notice legislation – warn your clients now!

I’ve now reviewed the proposed changes to the Director Penalty Notice  legislation.  It is not law yet, but it is likely to be law in the not too distant future.  And make no mistake:  this is a very significant move towards automatic director personal liability for company PAYG and Superannuation Deduction liabilities.  I haven’t seen a change of this significance since Noah was in Sea Scouts.

I’ve provided a summary below.  There is a lot to cover so, in the next week or so, Dissolve will be publish an Advice Guide so that Accountants and Lawyers can inform their clients of the new world of director personal liability for tax debts. Click Here To Read More