The Government on Wed 18.4.2012, released exposure draft legislation which proposes changes to the director penalty regime. The main aspects of the proposed amendments involve:
- expanding the director penalty regime to superannuation guarantee amounts;
- ensuring that directors cannot have their director penalties remitted by placing their company into administration or liquidation when unpaid PAYG withholding or superannuation guarantee amounts remain unpaid 3 months after the due date; and
- restricting access to PAYG withholding credits for company directors and their associates where the company has failed to pay withheld amounts to the Commissioner.
The Government had withdrawn legislation, which was before the Parliament in November 2011, following calls to conduct further consultation with industry.
The draft legislation contains some important changes from the previous proposed amendments. Following consultation, the Assistant Treasurer said “the Government has made amendments to the draft Bill, including to ensure that new directors have time to familiarise themselves with corporate accounts before being held personally liable for corporate debts and requiring the ATO to serve director penalty notices on directors in all cases before commencing action.”
In addition, Mr Bradbury said the draft legislation “includes a new defence for directors liable to penalties for superannuation debts where, broadly, they reasonably thought the worker was a contractor and not an employee”.
The Government has indicated its intention to include the amendments in Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No 2) Bill 2012 to be introduced in the Winter 2012 sittings of Parliament.
The draft legislation, including draft explanatory memorandum and a summary of Government responses to stakeholder concerns regarding the original proposals, are available on the Treasury website.
COMMENTS are due by 2 May 2012.
Source: Assistant Treasurer’s media release No 016, 18 April 2012
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