ATO Garnishee Order
What does it mean? What should you do?
A Garnishee Notice entitles the Australian Tax Office (“ATO”) to collect an outstanding tax debt by directly removing monies from an insolvent company’s bank account or directly collecting monies from a company’s debtors.
The effect of a Tax Garnishee Notice
In a nutshell, the ATO achieves priority over certain existing secured creditors and priority over unsecured creditors for payment of what is, in effect, an unsecured debt.
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What to do when you receive Notice of a Garnishee
It is important to act immediately to establish both the validity of the Garnishee Notice and compliance with the policy considerations and limitations outlined in the ATO’s Receivables Policy. The Commissioner’s power to issue a Notice under sections 260-265 is an administrative discretion and there may be circumstances which may cause the Commissioner to review his decision.
Proactive action is necessary as, in practise, the service of a garnishee notice may have an extremely detrimental impact on the cash flow of a business.
If Liquidation is the right solution for your company then you’ll be pleased to know it is a simple process. We will usually recommend a Creditors Voluntary Liquidation, or “CVL”, which is quick, simple and inexpensive.
Related Topics
If the above advice has not answered your questions you might want to review the following pages and downloadable Information Sheets:
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If you would like to learn more about Director Penalty Notice, please access our full Director Penalty Notice guide created by Dissolve’s specialists explaining this in detail.