Urgent Message: Escalation in Tax Office Penalties
The Pandemic saw the ATO take a much softer stance across a number of fronts:
- to late lodgements,
- to late, partial or even missed payments of monies owed to them,
- often agreeing to waive interest and/or penalties.
Since the pandemic has passed we had seen, until now, a gradual return by the ATO to situation normal. In recent weeks we have however seen the ATO take a far more aggressive approach – particularly with regard to PAYG withholding. Fines as much as $1200 for late lodgement are now being seen.
At Accountplan we take the ATO deadlines very seriously – be they BAS, PAYG Instalments (IAS) or Employee Super. For those who engage us to lodge to the ATO on their behalf we typically provide our clients with 4-6 weeks’ notice to get the information to us for timely processing and lodgement. Unfortunately the last 2-3 months has seen the provision of this information to us left by many until very close to deadline (if provided at all).
Unfortunately, with the change in the ATO’s approach this means that despite our best efforts, if you provide the information to us too late we may not be successful in having penalties waived or reduced on your behalf.
Source: ATO