Director penalty notice

Directors have a legal obligation to ensure that their firm complies with its requirements regarding pay as you go withholding, goods and services tax, and superannuation. In the event that a corporation fails to fulfil their responsibilities, the directors of the company may be held personally accountable for the sum that the firm ought to have paid.

On March 5, 2020, new laws were enacted to extend the Director Penalty Notice (DPN) regime to include the Goods and Services Tax, the Luxury Car Tax, and the Wine Equalization Tax. The laws governing DPNs in relation to superannuation guarantee were also strengthened as part of the same piece of legislation.

The ATO is not permitted to initiate legal action to recover a director penalty until 21 days have passed since a DPN has been issued to a director.

The Non-Lockdown Penalty Notice and the Lockdown Penalty Notice are the two distinct varieties of DPNs.