Director Penalty Notice Risk Checker

A formal notice from the ATO that makes you personally liable for the company’s unpaid PAYG withholding, super guarantee charge, or GST. The penalty equals the unpaid amount. Once issued, the ATO can recover it from your personal assets — wages, bank accounts, your share of property — unless the penalty is remitted within the rules. The company’s debt becomes your debt.

Because lodgement timing is the entire difference between lockdown and non-lockdown liability. Lodge on time and you keep the ability to remit the penalty through administration or liquidation if the worst happens. Lodge late and the liability becomes permanently yours — even if the company is wound up. Lodging an honest BAS you cannot pay is always better than not lodging. Always.

Get advice within days, not weeks. For non-lockdown amounts you have exactly four ways out: pay the debt, appoint a voluntary administrator, appoint a small business restructuring practitioner, or appoint a liquidator — all before day 21 from the date on the notice. The notice is sent to your address on ASIC records, and the clock runs from the notice date even if you never opened the letter. Keep your ASIC address current.

No — this is a common and dangerous myth. A payment plan reduces the practical likelihood the ATO escalates, and it shows engagement, but it does not legally prevent a DPN being issued, and it does not stop the lockdown rules applying to late-lodged periods. Some directors on payment plans still receive DPNs, particularly when the plan keeps getting renegotiated.

Do your due diligence first — request the ATO running balance account, lodgement history and super payment records before you consent. Once appointed, you have 30 days: you are not liable for pre-appointment debts if within that window the company pays them or enters administration, restructuring or liquidation. After 30 days, the history becomes yours. We run pre-appointment ATO checks for incoming directors regularly.

No. Resignation stops new liabilities accruing but does not remove liability for debts from your time as director. The ATO can issue a DPN to a former director years later. If you are resigning from a company with tax debt, get advice on your residual exposure before you go.

From 1 July 2026, super must reach employees’ funds within 7 business days of payday, and the ATO will match wages to super receipts in near real time through Single Touch Payroll. Late super becomes visible to the ATO almost immediately — which means SGC liabilities, and the director exposure that follows, will be identified far faster than the old quarterly cycle. The margin for “catching up next quarter” disappears.

No — every answer stays in your browser. No analytics fire on the inputs, nothing is logged, and when you close the tab the data is gone. We built it this way because tax debt is sensitive.