In June of this year the amended Director Penalty Notice (DPN) Law came into effect. During the last five months the ATO has been spreading the word on this new DPN Regime and there has been a steady flow of winding up Applications initiated by the ATO.

The introductory period has now come to an end and it is expected that it is now time for Director Penalty Notices to become a reality throughout Australia.

Under the old legislation the ATO could issue a DPN on a Director of a Company that had PAYG debts.

The Director then had the option of paying the debt or putting the company into voluntary administration. If the Director failed to do either of these within the 21 day time frame allowed, then the Director was unable to extinguish the personal liability of the PAYG debt of the company.

Under the new legislation the pre-existing laws still exist, however, the debt now extends to unpaid superannuation.

Adding to this, a Director will not be able to avoid liability if their Company has an unreported debt for three months from the lodgement due date. It is also worth noting that the amendments are retrospective for all outstanding debts and that the statute of limitations does not apply.

These new laws have served to make an already complicated area of law even more complicated and we recommend that, if you are a Director and you are worried about your personal liability, you contact us immediately for advice.

You can find more information at the following ATO link:

http://www.ato.gov.au/corporate/content.aspx?menuid=0&doc=/content/00224959.htm&page=18